Lam excited for Bristol fans' return

Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam has said that he hopes to see the fans filing back into Ashton Gate after their Round 19 clash against Northampton Saints on Tuesday.

The 27 000 seater stadium has been barren since the commencement of rugby after the hiatus and Lam hopes the fans will return to stoke the fire in his team as the play-offs grow imminent.

“I would love to have fans at the Dragons game for that quarter-final. That would be awesome,” Lam said.

“It is a big day for the club and for our community so that would be awesome and then hopefully we could follow it up with a semi-final as well.

“The sooner the better.

“We were hoping [to have fans in] for the Exeter game, we heard noises about, but the sooner the better.

“The stadium ticks all the boxes, we just need the greenlight to do it and it would be fantastic if it was for knockout rugby.”