Bristol Bears remain focused on chasing a place in the Gallagher Premiership play-offs says captain Steven Luatua, despite his club sitting second from bottom of the table after 11 rounds.
The Bears’ 25-20 defeat to Sale Sharks on Saturday was their sixth straight league defeat, an unwanted feat last achieved by the club in 2016/17 before director of rugby Pat Lam arrived when Bristol were last relegated down to the second tier.
There is no chance of relegation this season with the drop suspended barring for the likes of Worcester Warriors and Wasps who have gone into administration, but to still be talking confidently about a play-off run speaks of remarkable confidence within the camp when results on the pitch have not gone their way.
At the AJ Bell Stadium there were signs the Bears are on the verge of turning a corner as their attack cut open the notoriously strong defensive Sale side, but a lack of clinical finishing after making line breaks proved costly.
Speaking after the game, Luatua said: "In the group, our heads could easily be down but the energy that the guys are bringing to the training week, their drive to want to get better, it will come soon.
"As a team we obviously haven't been putting the results on. We feel like we're building. Championships aren't won in November, we're gearing, we're aiming towards getting into that play-off contention, we're building.
"What we've built so far isn't enough so we'll keep going back to the drawing board and we'll keep getting better, that's the plan."
Remarkably, mathematically, the Bears remain in touching distance of current fourth-place side Northampton Saints who are only 10 points better off despite being six places higher in the table, but the wins need to start coming quickly.
There is no doubt that Bristol’s ambitions have been badly hampered by high-profile injuries during the first half of the season, but the club look to be turning a corner there as well with the hope the results will follow.
Luatua returned from a calf injury to put in a standout performance on his 100th appearance for the club in his first run out of the 2022/23 season, while star full-back Charles Piutau also returned from a broken nose.
This weekend, with defending champions Leicester Tigers coming to Ashton Gate on Saturday night, star centre Semi Radradra is set to make his first appearance of the season having recovered from knee surgery.
He will likely be joined in the starting side by England stars Kyle Sinckler and Ellis Genge to give the club some extra bite in the forwards.
Powerful winger Siva Naulago is likely to return to action this month as well while Harry Randall, Joe Joyce and Sam Jeffries are targeting returns early in 2023.
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