Lam explains why 'dark day' at Saints was a 'blessing' for his Bristol Bears side

Saints inflicted a whopping 94-33 defeat on the Bears at DPD Stadium at Franklin's Gardens towards the end of the previous campaign.

And while Lam's side missed out on a place in the Gallagher PREM play-offs, the black, green and gold went on to win the title.

Saints and Bristol will meet again this Saturday as the two teams square up at Ashton Gate, a stadium where the Bears have won the previous five matches between the clubs in all competitions.

Both will go into this encounter on a high, having claimed opening-day PREM wins last weekend.

Saints saw off Newcastle Red Bulls at the Gardens, while Bristol claimed a hugely impressive 34-24 victory at Sale Sharks.

And Lam feels what happened to his team in Northampton back in May has helped them to lift their levels this time round.

"I looked at that Saints game four or five times in the pre-season," Lam told BristolLive. "I have never looked at a single game that many times, but it was a blessing.

"We know that we fixed it the next week and beat Bath, but my big challenge was why did that happen?

"And our pre-season was built around that. It was a dark day for us, and we don't ever want to go there again.

"So the work that we have put in was certainly based around ensuring that doesn't happen again, and the boys got clear evidence that it works (against Sale).

"This place is not an easy one to come to, and every time we have beaten Sale, it's normally been on the physical end, and that comes off the back of working hard for each other."

Speaking after the win at the Sharks, Lam said: "The biggest thing is nothing's changed in our systems, we know they work. But what we all realised is we've got to work harder.

“We have gone right back to basics.

"When I first got here, 10 years ago, our foundation was built on being world class at the things that don’t require talent.

"When I watched that Saints game from last year, it was not about systems or structure; we had stopped working and doing things off the ball. That was 100 per cent my fault, so we have spoken about that as coaches and a leadership group, and it has been driving our narrative.

“People always talk about our flash stuff, but we said we want to truly appreciate working hard, and the boys did that (at Sale).

"If you get consistency in your work rate, you get consistency in your attack and defence shape and guys are able to help each other out.

"Last time we had too many times when guys were still on the ground, not in the right places. It is all about working hard and reacting earlier off the ball."

Bristol and Saints typically produce entertaining matches, though both have been on the end of humbling defeats against each other in recent years.

"They have just kicked on from where they were," Lam said of Phil Dowson's men.

"They're a team in form, and they're defending champions, so what a great game to have as our first game back at Ashton Gate.

"It's going to be a class game, two strong teams that want to play rugby, and two teams that have come off five-point wins.

"What a great fixture for our fans to get behind the team, and our job is to give them the energy."