Bears Beyond The Gate

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 stru...

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 Bris...

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 ...

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 ...

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...

After being 'super-excited' for the game on Friday and reaching high peaks of excitement at half time we talk about the glorious defeat to them down the road in the play off semi final at the Rec.

It was everything we had hoped for bar the final score but just like that, the season was over.

Having spent the afternoon at the cricket, and with the 200th episode looming, we decide to do a 'half pod' instead.

We talk ...

In this week's episode we re-live a fantastic day down the Gate when the Bears secured their first play off berth in four years with a resounding 52-26 victory over Quins. The Bears Way was on display in its full roller-coaster splendour although to be fair they weathered a small storm in the second half and then powered to the finish line, much to the frenzied delight of the majority of the 20,000 fans in the stadium (minus t...

It's been a long time coming and it has divided opinion, but Saturday saw 51,000 spectators descend on Cardiff for the Big Day out at the World's premier rugby stadium. We review both the pre-match atmosphere, the game itself and what we can take forward to the tough away game at Sale. It is customary to mention Enya at this juncture but we need to put lazy puns aside and focus on the task ahead. 

Bears got the 5 points th...

You’re listening to Bears Beyond The Gate episode 196. Yes 196.

We’re three fans who love the club, the game and all things Bears.

Each episode we talk about the game that’s gone, the game that’s coming up and anything else that takes our fancy as long as it is vaguely Bears related. We try to be as balanced as possible but ultimately we are trying to reflect the views and opinions of paying punters from all ages, backgrounds and dem...

Only a couple of hours after the end of the disappointing defeat against Tigers we knock out a pod.

It's raw and a bit unstructured and involves a long discussion about how many more fortress metaphors we can realistically use before just giving up and accepting that we're never going to win lots of home games in a row.

Supporting Bristol continues to be like riding a roller-coaster but today it felt like we were more at Pe...

Miles and Pete break down the humbling defeat at Gloucester by piecing together what they can remember from an excellent away day in the Shed. 

Bristol's defence left a little bit to be desired but fair play to Gloucester as they were on fire and it was an honour to witness once of best no-look offloads in the history of rugby union.

Despite the heavy defeat, the Bears still remain in second place after this mini block of games ...

We run through the key moments of the 52-38 victory at a pulsating Ashton Gate as the Bears saw off the Chiefs with a disciplined second half display after losing Santi Grondona to a red after 30 minutes.

The first half however...

We also briefly look forward to the away fixture at Kingsholm with a game of 'who is most likely to...?' and finish with a short discussion about the merits or otherwise of the proposed plan to in...

We look forward to the return of the Premiership after the long Six Nations hiatus with a little help from Sports Reporter Elgan Alderman from The Times who was the ONLY journalist to tip Bristol for glory at the start of the season. We ask him why he went against the tide of peer opinion and whether he thinks we've still go it in us to go all the way.

We also review the Bears Woman' semi final loss at Queensholm and ponde...

This week we focus on the Bears Women's upcoming semi-final play off with Gloucester-Hartpury on Sunday 2nd March at 3pm.

Not only do we invite a proper dual season ticket holder onto the pod as a special guest but we also have an exclusive and in-depth interview with Dave Ward and Tom Luke. They give us a behind-the scenes deep dive into the season so far as well as their thoughts on how they will plan and prep for the play-of...

The boys are back at the Bristol Beer Factory for yor favourite Bristol rugby lock-in.

Unashamedly long but to help you out here is the running order:

• 0 - 6m45s: Intros, beer review, riders and the BBF Quiz night details
• 6m45s - 22m0s: Bears Women's win at Quins and qualify for play-offs
• 22m0s - 29m33s: PWR Commentator cliches
• 29m33s - 30m40s: Instagram followers roll of honour
• 30m40s - 36m30s: Bears Men beat Bath again but don&...

As we head towards the Six Nations break we are sitting pretty in second place in the Prem table on 40 points. 

It might have been a bit of a topsy turvey win against Falcons that we appeared to try and win at least three times, but ultimately we scored 8 tries and pulled away in the final 'quarter'.

We break down the game in our somewhat cheery and rambly way as well as going off on a few tangents with ...

You’re listening to Bears Beyond The Gate, a Bristol Bears podcast made by fans for fans. We three regulars at Ashton Gate who love the club, the game and all things Bears.

This week we look back on two Saturday fixtures with the Women going first with a bonus point victory 43-29 win against Leicester Tigers women at Ashton Gate and the Men managing to snatch defeat from the Jaws of a Draw at the Stade Marcel Michelin in Clermont-Fe...

The boys come together at the Bristol Beer Factory after a couple of cheeky pints to review the narrow victory at the Gate aganst Benetton. It was an inconsistent win but with plenty to be postive about despite almost losing at the end. 

Before that though, Miles issues a public apology to the whole Italian nation and we run through a large list of people who we saw at the game.

We then offer our analysis based on...