It was a derby day to remember and although it didn't go our way for us, the effort was there.

Pete, Lee and Miles ‘deep dive’ into the heated clash with them down the road, where the Bears battled hard, created big moments, but ultimately found that Bath were just that little bit better on the day.

🔥 Key Talking Points:

• Early impact & momentum:

From the off, the Bears looked fired up: a charge-down leading to a try inside a minute set the tone. That fast start put Bath on notice, yet despite that spark, the boys found themselves under pressure as the first half progressed, with Bath creeping into the ascendancy. Was the Ben Spencer “not looked at deliberate knock on” a turning point?

• Defence showing heart:

The Bears defended really well when they needed to. Two Bath tries were disallowed thanks to our pressure and scrambled defence and even if the final scoreboard didn’t ultimately reflect it, the character was there.

• Bench depth & injuries exposed

With many first-choice names missing, the squad felt the effects. The Bears’ bench couldn’t quite match Bath’s firepower and depth and the gap that showed.
The hosts executed late and we paid for the small moments that went against us.

• Refereeing & derby tension

Derby matches bring emotion and this one was no exception. The officiating was under the microscope — scrums, scuffles, yellows, and debate. We consider whether the match officials were the right choice for this much-heated affair, whilst at the same time recognising that it can be a thankless task.

🤔 Looking ahead: can we build from this?

Yes, the result stings. But there is more to this performance than just the score. The Bears showed fight, structure and signs of promise. The focus now is to turn this into consistency.

🎖 Player of the Week:

Our pick: Matías Moroni — despite travel and squad changes, he produced several big plays and gave the Bears something to build on. Stay tuned for his full ratings in the episode.

🗣 Listener shout-outs:

Massive thanks to all the fans who weighed in but our top three contributions this week were:

• “Defence was incredible… Worsley more than held his own versus the overrated Russell.” — Morgan
• “Bears battled. Bath better.” — Huge Swede
• “You’ll get top 8. Fair Play’ - Tony Sarsby (a Bath fan)

Got views on the game? Send us your voice-notes or messages across our social media and you might feature int he pod.

✅ Final Word:

A valiant effort, full of heart, grit and individuality, but at the final whistle, Bath came out on top. If the Bears can keep the intensity shown here, tighten up when it matters, and improve depth, then this performance won’t feel like just a defeat but rather a stepping stone.

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UP THE BEARS! 🐻

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This week we go over Friday night’s 7-try, 49-point dismantling of Gloucester under the lights and in front of the baying crowd at Kingsholm. We regained the Rifles Cup with another warrior-like performance of grit and graft but also sprinkled some fantastic handling and offloading. Despite our injury woes if felt a bit like the Bears Way in its full glory.

Not only did the frenetic nature of the game help last minute loanee and former fan favourite Toby Fricker shrug off his stag do hangover, but it also allowed Mattias Moroni to get over his jet lag having, flown into Bristol on the red eye earlier in the week. However, in young Sam Worsley we had a bone fide Academy player who definitely came of age delivering a high class performance and becoming the first Bristol player to kick seven conversions in a Prem rugby match.

We went with Gloucester-supporting Lewis who was supposed to join us tonight but he has unsurprisingly cried off, but we do hear from his Dad Steve who was the Gloucester team doctor back in the day of Mike Teague and the like.

3 wins out of 4 is a pretty good return give the injuries but we have a final challenge down the road before the Autumn Internationals ‘literally’ kick in. Given that Bath lost to Tigers, are we heading towards an epic backlash or should we go with some extra confidence given that our recent performance history has been pretty good there? We hear from Bath fans, Tom Dabs and Matt Price who gives thir thoughts. Either way you can be sure that the likes of Gengey, Dunnie and Kloska will be ready for them.

All this and more with Pete, Miles and Lee in rugby union's only lock-in pod down at the Bristol Beer Factory Taproom.

Chapter markers are avaible again!

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Pete, Miles and Lee pick through the narrow win against the Chiefs as well as previewing the upcoming fixture against Gloucester with help from Ed Price from the Cherry Jam fan pod.

There is also the usual excellent contributions from listeners and a bonus section on Bennard Janse Van Rensburg's post match interivew with Clare Thomas.

Finally, we finsh off with a big, big Goat, an update on the work of the Supporters Advisory Committee and pay homage to the game's look-a-like cam effort.

Slight apologies for the length of the episode, but to make it more manageable chapter markers have been inserted to allow for 'structured' listening!

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The five key takeaways from the pod this week after a few cheeky beers and bit of rugby banter…

1. Bears suffered an "absolute shellacking," losing 50-17 after falling 31-0 down by halftime, though the lads accept that Saracens' performance was "outstanding" and they probably would have beaten any team in the league it was that good.

2. The Bears just couldn’t convert any of pressure that they did create struggling with red zone efficiency and only scoring only 17 points from 12 entries into the 22 despite having 62% possession and 57% territory overall. Was it case of Sarries been too good or Bears making too many mistakes? As always, it was probably a ‘bit of both’ erring on the side of Sarries being too good.

3. The defeat highlighted the risk of starting the season with the smallest squad in the premiership, and this has unfortunately been exposed by an unprecedented number of early-season injuries to key players in key positions. The medical boys have definitely got their work cut out.

4. A massive positive, however, was the team's second-half resilience exemplified by Kieran Marmion’s standout performance. He was the best Bears player on the pitch and scored a quality hat-trick.

5. We need a "bounce back" performance against Exeter Chiefs, with the lads highlighting the return of key personnel, including Fitz Harding and Ellis Genge, Santi Grindona, Pedro Rubiolio and Benjamin Elizadlde to reinforce the squad.

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We chew over the opening day bonus point victory from the Media Conference Room at Ashton Gate. We were the only ones in it mind but it was still quite exciting nonetheless.

A shaky first half, where Tigers did a 'Radwan' on us, subsequently developed into a comfortable victory as the intensity increased, the pack took control and Prem debutant Tom Jordan ran the show.

The atmopshere at the stadium was excellent as the Bristol faithful wallowed in the early Autumn sun and it was somehat apt that as the vicotry strains of 'Drink up ye Zider' echoed around the ground, the Thatchers hot air balloon gently ascended from Ashton Court.

We're up and running (literally!).

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Pod friend James Dun makes his second appearance live from the BBF Taproom to tell us how pre-season has gone, talk us through how the boys will prep for the game during the week and even make some of his own suggestions for ramping up the atmosphere at the Gate, in particular searching for George Kloska look-a-likies in the crowd...

As always, we appreciate his time and it's good to see the 'fourth mic' getting some more action.

We also hear from Elliott Butlin from Tigers fan pod, The Rolling Maul, who gives us the low-down on their season prep, how some of their new players are shaping up and how he sees the game going on Sunday.

The Prem is nearly upon us. Up the Bears!

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Having reached a double ton at the end of last season wth the help of emerging club and Instagram legend James Dun, the boys road-test their brand new crowd funded recording equipment at the BBF Taproom Studio Bar for the season seven opener with Bears CEO Tom Tainton, who, lets be honest, was well impressed with the set up and admtted that he had never done a pod in a lock-in before.

The boys asked him briefly about his journey to the top before diving in with some of the sorts of questions that we hope our listeners would expect us to ask - fan engagment, whether the Big Day Out made money, merchandise, Simba cam and much, much more.

Tom was a very engaging interviewee and took his time to clarify and engage many of the issues that are close to fan's hearts. He admitted that sometimes the club had got things wrong but also reaffirmed his belief that the club is in a great position and that the future is bright.

It was very good of him to come down to our manor on a Sunday night and it can be confirmed that at least two of the can opening sound effects, much loved by many listeners, were definitely of his making.

As always your feedback is welcome both on our socials or via bearsbeyondthegate@gmail.com

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Running order:

00.00 - 14.30: Re-living the semi at the Rec

14.30 - 18.40: Back to the start of the season and the focus on cohesion

18:40 - 25.45: Pronouncing Ravouvou, thoughts on Rubiolo and gym strength

25.45 - 30.45: Integrating the Internationals

30.45 - 41.00: Lee's list of positives, centurion or not centurion and Wooley tribute

41.00 - 52.30: European campaign, man love for BJVR and the Clermont cauldron

52.30 - 70.07: Quick fire questions:

• Fitzy's real name?
• Batesy's super skill?
• England aspirations?
• Next season's squad?
• Nicknames?

And then an abrupt finish as the memory card ran out of space...

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