Bristol boy Dun can't wait to get stuck into the 'old enemy' Bath

BRISTOL Bears is in the blood for James Dun. The 25-year-old second row is the son of Bristol rugby royalty with his father Andy having captained the club, so there are few players in the changing room who understand as much what the derby with Bath means to the city.

- John EVELY

Looking ahead to another seismic clash this weekend, where first will take on fourth in the table, Dun said: "People just care more about this game, they do, it’s like, they're always our sell-out games.

"I think people in Bristol have a bit of a chip on their shoulder when it comes to Bath, it’s like they're the noisy neighbours. It’s just a mind-set of like them looking down on us as well, in terms of as a club, as a city. Being a Bristol boy, that’s always been instilled in me, Bath is like the old enemy.

I guess for them, because we had so many years down the Championship they kind of developed a derby with Gloucester, but for us this game has always been like the pinnacle.

"I was at Bristol Grammar School and played for Old Bristolians before joining the Bears, that was always my club. Now this season I've done a bit of coaching with them as well, which is pretty nice. Even playing at Old Bristolians as a kid, we'd play games against Bath clubs and even then it would be like, this is Bath, come on boys. It’s just an extra five per cent and an emotional spike.

"It’s just always been a thing for me growing up. My dad used to play for Bristol and he’d tell me stories of the John Player Cup from the 80s. He said one of his best ever games was when Bristol won 12-11 in the rain. It’s just been instilled in me that playing Bath is always the biggest game and always where his stories came from. The only rugby stories that got told to me really were Bristol v Bath stories.”

On Saturday, for the first time in history, the derby game with Bath will be played at Cardiff’s colosseum of rugby, the Principality Stadium, in front of an expected crowd of more than 50,000 fans.