Pat Lam: Bristol's Champions Cup exit is 'most disappointing loss' of season says boss

Bristol lost their third Champions Cup game in a row to Connacht to exit the competition at the group stage

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam their loss to former side Connacht and exit from the Champions Cup was the "most disappointing defeat of the season".

The Bears lost 27-10 to the Irish side to finish bottom of their pool in the European competition.

Bristol were reduced to 13 men at one point in the game and also saw second-rower Josh Caulfield shown a red card.

"As a group we're bitterly disappointed," Lam told BBC Radio Bristol.

"It was probably the most disappointing one of the season. The amount of ball we turned over and didn't put any pressure.

"All credit to Connacht, I know it's a hard place to play but you don't come here and don't play at your best, you put a lot of pressure on yourselves and we had enough opportunities but we kept coughing the ball up."

Bristol had beaten Lyon in their opening Champions Cup match, but a trio of defeats to Bordeaux, Bulls and then Connacht ended their hopes of qualifying for the knockout rounds.

While Connacht, where Lam coached between 2013 and 2017 ran in four tries for a bonus point, Bristol could only muster a penalty try and a penalty courtesy of fly-half AJ MacGinty.

"We had enough chances there and we didn't take them and we went down to 14, 13 men, put ourselves under pressure same as last week [against Bulls]," Lam said.

"We talked about it, how it's a challenge for us now [to qualify] but we've got to be accurate and straight after kick-off we lose the ball and then scrum, penalty scrum, penalty scrum try and it's 24-3 and then we're just hanging in there."

Bristol will next turn their attention to a big derby game at Ashton Gate in the Premiership against neighbours Bath next Saturday.

High-flying Bath are third in the table while Bristol are five places below and 11 points below in eighth.

"We're going into the 17th game in a row which is completely new but we know what a massive occasion it is and we know for our supporters the sense of Bath-Bristol," Lam said.

"We've got to make sure we get that preparation right. The last four, five, six weeks we've been changing things up as far as the time the boys have because it's ensuring that they're ready to go."