How injury crisis made Bristol Bears stronger
Prop Jake Woolmore said: "Sometimes we were in meetings and it felt empty because nobody was here, the internationals were away for bits and you're like: "Do we have a squad? ' Training sessions when coaches struggled to put two teams together could also be "tough". Woolmore added: "Everyone you've got fit is probably in the starting XV and then you've got boys running all over the shop in the opposition - everyone has to step up.
"You might have props running on the wing for a session or for a drill, everyone's just got to hunker down that week and do their part. "You then have to 'cotton wool' the guys who are fit, because we can't afford anyone [else to go]. " Captain Fitz Harding said stripping their gameplan back to basics was the best thing they could do.
"When we're missing key game drivers, the most important thing is we're all on the same page," he said. "The most cohesive teams often do the best, so the challenge for us was how we mitigate the level of cohesion in our squad and the answer we came up with was just making everything as simple as possible. " Sam Worsley kicked seven conversions - a Prem record for a Bristol player - and scored a try in the win against Gloucester Lam has repeatedly said that when a player becomes unavailable, they do not linger on what they have lost, but rather look to who is next in line to step up.
Frequently, that meant calling on academy players to fill holes. Against Northampton in November, four academy players featured in the matchday 23. Hooker Tomas Gwilliam was making his Prem debut, while back Aidan Boshoff and prop Jimmy Halliwell had played just four top-flight games between them.
Bristol went on to thrash Saints 46-12. Academy fly-half Sam Worsley similarly filled in during the absences of MacGinty and Scotland international Tom Jordan for five games during the autumn. The 22-year-old, who began the season playing for Dings Crusaders in the third-tier National League One, kicked a last-minute penalty to seal a narrow win against Exeter.