Bristol Bears

Bristol Bears employ a high calibre of coaching staff, which is led by Head Coach Dave Ward and attack and backs coach Tom Luke, both of whom came in for the beginning of the 2021/22 campaign.

The club have developed a close affinity to the men's programme in recent years working closely with Director of Rugby Pat Lam on a shared club vision and philosophy. The alignment between the two programmes has been enhanced by Bears Women's move to the High Performance Centre, which will see both the men's, women's and academy programme share best practice from a coaching, medical and athletic performance standpoint.

The squad boasts a number of established internationals; England's Abbie Ward and Sarah Bern as well as Wales' Jasmine Joyce and Elinor Snowsill to name but a few. They also boast Olympic and Commonwealth Games representatives, age-range internationals as well as BUCS champions, through to a development squad of talented individuals from across the South West.

The club strives to help nurture and develop the wealth of rugby talent across the South West through strong partnerships with the University of Bristol, Richard Huish College, SGS College and Weston College.

The Bears have gone from strength to strength under the stewardship of Dave Ward, finishing third in the league last season and winning 11 of their 18 games, before losing narrowly to Exeter Chiefs in the play-off semi finals. Amber Reed and Abbie Ward will again co-captain the team this season as they look to go one step further and secure a spot in the Allianz Premier 15s Final on 17 June, 2023.