The European Rugby Challenge Cup winners bounced back from their 51-38 home loss to ASM Clermont Auvergne in Round 1 to beat Connacht Rugby 27-18 in Galway on Sunday and silence those who thought Bristol would take it easy following the Clermont defeat.

"I am really pleased - that is our first Champions Cup win in a lot of years and what an effort,” Lam told the Bears’ website.

“We said at the beginning of the week it was going to be tough and everyone needs to roll their sleeves up and keep going, and the 23 boys did that.

“People asked me would we throw the towel in after the defeat last weekend and would we still give it our all. It is the best competition in the world, so of course we will give it our all.

“We have gone strong and we have got a lot of players coming back in January too.

“All we can control is trying to get four or five points next time out [against Connacht] and then we are still alive the week after that.”

Lam attributed the victory on his old stamping ground to the Bears’ physicality and their defence, which showed a massive improvement after shipping seven tries against Clermont.

"We worked hard,” he commented. “We were really gutted with our performance against Clermont, particularly defensively.

"Omar [Mouneimne - defence and collisions coach] did some good work with the defence, with the collisions, and that was superb. It wasn't perfect, but it was a gutsy effort, particularly up front."

Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam hailed the Heineken Champions Cup as “the best competition in the world” after his side had registered their first victory in Europe’s elite club tournament since 2007.