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Yann Thomas of Bristol Bears looks on (Photo by Patrick Khachfe\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nPat Lam has brought Yann Thomas back to his hometown clubYann Thomas of Bristol Bears looks on (Photo by Patrick Khachfe\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Former Bristol Bears prop Yann Thomas will return to the club as Academy Transition Coach in January 2026, the club have confirmed.<\/p>\n
Thomas, who made 129 appearances for his hometown club over seven seasons before hanging up his boots in the summer, comes in for Glen Townson, who is expected to join Exeter Chiefs<\/strong><\/a> to assist with coaching their forwards.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Bristol Bears player ratings from Newcastle Red Bulls win – ‘Extremely dangerous’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Bristol Bears<\/strong><\/a> director of rugby, Pat Lam, said: \u201cYann has always been an outstanding leader and mentor, both on and off the field, and we\u2019re delighted to welcome him back into the Bristol Bears<\/a> family as Academy Transition Coach.<\/p>\n \u201cHis experience as a top-level professional, combined with his outstanding character and care for the people around him, makes him an exceptional role model for our young players. He understands exactly what it takes to succeed at the top level, and his influence will be invaluable as we help the next generation make the jump into senior rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n Academy Manager, John Barnes, said: \u201cYann\u2019s experience, professionalism and, above all, his character make him the ideal person to guide our aspiring Bears as they move towards the senior game. We\u2019re thrilled to have him supporting the next stage of their development.<\/p>\n Thomas is as local as a Bristolian gets, growing up a stone\u2019s throw from the club\u2019s Ashton Gate stadium while attending Ashton Park School and playing for Nailsea and Backwell RFC. While playing at Bristol, Thomas also coached the scrum at the University of Bristol and for the Somerset Men’s County team, and this season has been working at Hartpury College and University as Forwards Transition Coach.<\/p>\n Thomas said: \u201cI\u2019m extremely excited to be returning to Bristol Bears in a coaching role after a short time away from the club. When Pat (Lam) and John Barnes came to me with the opportunity to come back and coach and work alongside some of the best coaches in rugby, it was an opportunity I couldn\u2019t turn down.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m also looking forward to working and mentoring the senior academy, future players of Bristol Bears. Lastly, I\u2019d like to thank Hartpury College and Martin Haag for the opportunity and faith shown in me. I wish everyone at Hartpury College success in the future on and off the field.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pat Lam has brought Yann Thomas back to his hometown clubYann Thomas of Bristol Bears looks on (Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,21571,748,2266,393,4884,26815,16,15,25179],"class_list":{"0":"post-663568","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-education","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-nailsea","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-university-of-bristol"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115811348860001341","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663568","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=663568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}