Pat Lam has done it again, the Bristol Bears director of rugby has wrong-footed everyone with his wildcard of a selection for the club's biggest game of the season yet.
Bristol face Sale Sharks at the AJ Bell Stadium on Saturday in the first leg of back-to-back games in the last 16 knockout rounds of the Heineken Champions Cup.
Lam has selected a matchday 23 with a trio of former All Blacks and the Fijian international captain Semi Radrara all on the bench.
Both the club's marquee men, Charles Piutau and Radradra, along with captain Steven Luatua, prop John Afoa, and standout performer of the season so far Fitz Harding have all been named amongst the replacements, or system players as the Bears call them, in what some fans on social media have labeled the 'greatest bench in the history of rugby union.'
But will the gamble work?
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Lam's side have been fast starters but slow finishers for much of the season in the league, and against Saracens two weeks ago at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, he employed the same type of tactics to try and finish the game strongly, bringing Piutau and Sheedy off the bench that day.
By a whisker, it didn't work, although the result would have gone the Bears' way had Joe Joyce's pass in the last minute not gone forward to Jack Bates. Even with that moment, Bristol were far more fluent in the first half than the second, leaving significant questions over whether stacking a strong bench is the wisest of moves.
While opting to start Piutau, Radradra and Luatua may also have been done with one eye on the second leg of the away and home tie with the Sharks, it is perhaps also an admittance that neither star back has been at their best this season.
Bristol have looked sharpest during 2021/22 with a quick man at full-back which is certainly a box former Wallaby Luke Morahan ticks, and sadly Radradra looks a shadow of the player who was labeled the best in the world in his first year at the club. The cruel, harsh reality is the Fijian star just doesn't look the same since having surgery on the knee he injured at the Olympics in the summer.
That said, can he still come on and pull off a piece of magic in the closing stages at the AJ Bell? Of course he can.
Lam talked in midweek about selecting a 'horses for courses' team to fit the game plan to beat Sale - and this selection screams of that with defensive star Sam Bedlow rushed back in at inside centre at the harsh expense of Antoine Frisch who misses out altogether.
Nathan Hughes, at nearly 20 stone, comes straight back into the starting side at number eight having returned from a barnstorming two-month loan at Bath Rugby to provide some ballast to the pack as part of a big backrow that includes Samoan captain Chris Vui and big-hitting Sam Jeffires.
The problem with the approach of tailoring your game and selection with your opponent in mind is that in some regards they have already achieved a small victory. Sale already have the upper hand because Bristol are being reactive.
Of course, if Bristol triumph over the 160-minute battle then Lam will be lauded for his selection and rightly so, if they fall short it is virtually season over. Not much at stake then.
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Bristol Bears: 15. Luke Morahan, 14. Jack Bates, 13. Piers O'Conor, 12. Sam Bedlow, 11. Alapati Leiua, 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Harry Randall, 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Bryan Byrne, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Dave Attwood, 5. Joe Joyce (c), 6. Chris Vui, 7. Sam Jeffries, 8. Nathan Hughes.
Replacements: 16. Harry Thacker, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. John Afoa, 19. Steven Luatua, 20. Fitz Harding, 21. Andy Uren, 22. Semi Radradra, 23. Charles Piutau
Sale Sharks: 15. Luke James, 14. Jack Metcalf, 13. Sam James, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Aaron Reed, 10. Robert du Preez, 9. Faf de Klerk, 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Jacobus Wiese, 5. Lood de Jager, 6. Jean-Luc du Preez, 7. Jono Ross (c), 8. Dan du Preez.
Replacements : 16. Ewan Ashman, 17. Simon McIntyre, 18. Coenie Oosthuizen, 19. Matthew Postlethwaite, 20. Tommy Taylor, 21. Raphael Quirke, 22. Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 23. Simon Hammersley,
