Ahead of his appearance for the Barbarians against England this weekend, Bristol Bears’ Charles Piutatu says his club side can improve after an encouraging return to the Gallagher Premiership.
“As a team, reaching the top six was one of our goals this season and to fall short of that was a bit of a downer,” Bristol Bears full-back Charles Piutau started. “I think that we learnt a lot as a team and there is some room for improvement and growth next season.”
Returning to the Premiership after two seasons with Ulster, Piutau again amazed crowds with his attacking prowess and helped Bristol to a ninth place finish on the clubs return to the top division of English rugby.
Many thought that Bristol’s season would result in the same fate as the last time they gained promotion to the Premiership; relegation. In the end it was Newcastle who finished 12th, but despite having surpassed many people’s expectations, Piutau believes there is still room for improvement.
“I think there were a lot of those thoughts from outside the club (that Bristol could be the relegated side), but I guess that for us as a team, we thought that we were much bigger than that and we were keeping our eyes higher up the ladder,” Piutau said. “Although we stayed up, we still feel as a team that we underachieved. So, we’re really looking forward to next season.”
Representing the Barbarians this weekend against an England XV, some of Piutau’s Bristol teammates will be playing for Jim Mallinder’s England. Piers O’Conor and Callum Sheedy have both enjoyed breakthrough seasons underneath Pat Lam’s tuition and in Piutau’s eyes, this is a sign of things to come at Bristol.
“It’s always great to see boys making higher honours or getting called up into representative teams. The two that have been called to that England squad, it is well deserved and goes to show some of the talent that is in the team. We hope as a club that we can get as many guys at the club playing for England.”
