Pat Lam, the Bristol Bears Director of Rugby, was candid in his assessment of the team’s opening stanza of the season.

As the only Premiership team to travel to South Africa and play a red-hot Stormers outfit in Cape Town in the opening round of the Champions Cup, Lam opted to prioritise the domestic league over Europe.

The trip to the Republic is sandwiched between Premiership encounters with Sale Sharks (an impressive 34-24 away win), Northampton Saints (a 41-26 win at home), an way loss to Saracens (7-30), along with two vital home fixtures against Exeter and Leicester Tigers.

The overarching goal for Bristol is to prioritise the Premiership campaign.

“It is probably our toughest draw ever over the first six games, up to November,” he said of the decision to leave many stars at home and suffering a 12-49 loss in the shadow of Table Mountain.

Lam named the youngest and most inexperienced Bears team he had ever selected for their Champions Cup opener against the Stormers.

Key stars like Ellis Genge (injured), Louis Rees-Zammit, Fitz Harding, and AJ MacGinty did not travel to South Africa.

One-cap England international hooker Gabriel Oghre also did not make the trip , after suffering a calf strain in the loss to Saracens. As a result, the Bears played with their third and fourth choice hookers in Cape Town, with Harry Thacker still sidelined with a neck injury.

Lam explained that the decision to bring the Champions Cup’s opening round forward (from December) and put it in the first block in October factored into the decision to ‘rest’ some key players for the long-haul flight to South Africa.

The trip back from South Africa also meant a short turnaround for their upcoming match against Exeter, resulting in the decision to ‘proactively’ manage his players’ workloads.

“No player can play six games on the trot,” Lam said, adding: “All the teams are managing players for different reasons.

“We managed our squad last week and this week.”

Lam said he was proud of the effort the young players put in to stay in touch with the Stormers, before four tries in the last half-an-hour blew out the score from 21-12 to 49-12.

“A lot of these players have not been to South Africa, and they are buzzing,” he said.

“They scrapped well for a long period and put the Stormers under pressure, but we had a very inexperienced group on the field in the last 20 minutes.”

The Bears boss said it was a “great experience” for the young players, most of whom are set to feature in the Premiership Cup in November.

With a growing injury list – prior to travelling, hookers Gabriel Oghre and Harry Thacker were sidelined, alongside England back Benhard Janse van Rensburg – Lam reasoned that it was not worth risking his front-line players on high-intensity workloads.

“During November a lot of these boys will play in the Prem Cup,” the Bears coach said.

“Playing in Cape Town, against Springboks in a quality Stormers team, it is massive for those young players, several of whom are in our Academy.

“Come November, they will be better for it.”