Bristol Bears have signed Newcastle Falcons rising star Max Pepper ahead of the 2025/26 season, his jilted director of rugby has confirmed.

Pepper, the younger brother of Bath flanker Guy, can play both on the wing and at scrum-half to make him an archetypal player in Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam’s new reduced squad-size approach.

Diamond broke the news this week outside of the normal embargo between two clubs when announcing the move of a player in a sign of his significant disappointment at losing the 23-year-old who he hoped to be the long-term successor for Adam Radwan who made a surprise midseason switch from Newcastle to Leicester Tigers earlier this year.

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Diamond is fed up of bottom of the table Falcons being a feeder club to the Premiership's big boys and the Bears have often looked to Newcastle for emerging talent to sign, having picked up 22-year-old Argentina lock Pedro Rubiolo from the northern club ahead of the 2025/26 campaign. The second row has in fact already made the move to the West Country where he is rehabbing a long-term foot injury. Lam also divulged that he had tried to sign Falcons full-back Ben Redshaw last season before eventually turning his attention to Argentinian Benjamin Elizalde and the Bears had been chasing the signature of Guy Pepper before he opted to join Bath.

Max Pepper officially signed for Newcastle last summer having been named BUCS Super Rugby Player of the Season for 2023/24 while playing for Durham University. After being drafted in to make his Newcastle debut last year, Pepper has made 11 appearances during the current campaign but is sidelined with an injury at the moment.

Speaking to RugbyPass ahead of Newcastle’s Premiership Rugby Cup quarter-final with Gloucester on Friday night. Diamond, said: “Max Pepper has decided to go to Bristol. I am disappointed because I thought we gave him a lot of opportunities on the wing. He obviously thinks it is better to go elsewhere.

“He reminded me of Ben Foden who could play scrum-half and in the back three. I was on ski holiday last week and got a 10-second phone from him saying he wasn’t taking the new contract.

“The problem you have is that you give these lads opportunities and they jump ship and when I arrived he didn’t have a contract. I offered him a small one and then vastly improved it over two years.

“These young lads are influenced by their agents and promises about what they can get elsewhere. The agent didn’t ring me about Max and you have to ask if they are going to get the game time at clubs with 60 or 70 players? Lads like Max, under the previous regime, were waifs and strays and they didn’t rate them. I gave them an opportunity and nine out of ten people respect that and show some loyalty.”

Bristol Bears are not expected to have a huge turnover of players this season but Deago Bailey is one of the club's current wingers out of contract in June.