Lam has repeatedly said that when a player becomes unavailable, they do not linger on what they have lost, but rather look to who is next in line to step up.
Frequently, that meant calling on academy players to fill holes.
Against Northampton in November, four academy players featured in the matchday 23.
Hooker Tomas Gwilliam was making his Prem debut, while back Aidan Boshoff and prop Jimmy Halliwell had played just four top-flight games between them. Bristol went on to thrash Saints 46-12.
Academy fly-half Sam Worsley similarly filled in during the absences of MacGinty and Scotland international Tom Jordan for five games during the autumn.
The 22-year-old, who began the season playing for Dings Crusaders in the third-tier National League One, kicked a last-minute penalty to seal a narrow win against Exeter.
He then scored a try and kicked 14 points in the victory against Gloucester – one of two games in which he was named player of the match.
“When young lads step up who haven’t necessarily had loads of gametime and put in a performance that leads to a result, it just fills the group with confidence about where we are as a whole squad,” Harding said.
While fielding so many developing players would not have necessarily been the plan at the start of the season, the sink-or-swim approach has helped create strength in depth now the campaign is reaching its crunch point.
Add into that players who have returned from injury in recent weeks and it is no wonder the mood around the Bears’ camp as the league returns is optimistic.
“Training was tasty [on Wednesday] and that’s because everyone wants it, it also feels like they’ve earned a shot now as well,” Woolmore said.
“No one’s happy that they’re not involved. That desire and hunger is only going to do us favours as we go.”
