{"id":486874,"date":"2025-10-09T23:24:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T23:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/486874\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T23:24:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T23:24:20","slug":"bristol-bears-lock-down-pillar-of-their-pack-and-key-energy-giver-to-new-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/486874\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol Bears lock down pillar of their pack and key energy giver to new contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lock Joe Batley has committed his future to Bristol BearsJoe Batley of Bristol Bears (Photo by Harry Trump\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Joe Batley has outlined his trio of reasons for signing a new contract extension with Bristol Bears<\/a> as he bids to finally win the full England cap which misfortune has denied him,<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old lock, who rejoined the club from Worcester Warriors in 2022, has made 77 appearances for the Bears, starting 55 of the last 56 matches he has played over the past three seasons.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Bristol Bears injury latest ahead of Exeter Chiefs: Louis Rees-Zammit, Tom Jordan, Joe Jenkins<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The lock was named in both the England A and England Senior training squads last season, before being ruled out of a potential international debut this summer through injury having been named in the Gallagher PREM Team of the Season for 2024\/25.<\/p>\n

Discussing his new deal, Batley said: “I\u2019m incredibly proud to sign a new contract with Bristol. This club means a huge amount to me \u2013 it\u2019s become home for me and my family, and I love being part of this group.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy ambition is to become a Bears centurion, to help this team win the PREM and to keep pushing to represent my country. I truly believe this is the best place for me to do that. The culture here, the supporters, and the people \u2013 it all feels special, and I\u2019m excited for what\u2019s ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bristol director of rugby, Pat Lam, <\/strong>added: \u201cJoe has been outstanding for us since rejoining the club three seasons ago \u2013 not just in his performances, but in the way he leads and supports those around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis consistency and growth over the past few seasons have been a credit to his character and desire for the club to be successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a real team man, a great example of what it means to be a Bear, and he\u2019s continued to develop as both a player and a leader. We\u2019re pleased that he\u2019s committed his future to the club and will continue to play a major role in what we\u2019re building here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lock Joe Batley has committed his future to Bristol BearsJoe Batley of Bristol Bears (Photo by Harry Trump\/Getty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,21571,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-486874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-bears","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115346792141989368","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}