Bristol Bears red hot second-row Joe Batley has suffered a minor fracture to his leg which is set to rule him out until Christmas.
Batley was called up to play for England A against Australia A last weekend after a barnstorming campaign for the Bears so far this season, but despite linking up with the national side for training he had to pull out of the game and a scan revealed a knock he suffered against the Wallabies development side when they came to Ashton Gate caused a fracture in his leg.
The injury setback provides further selection headaches for Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam, who was already without three locks in his thinned-down squad. He said: “It is unfortunate. Joe was devastated. In the Australian game he took a knock to his leg and he thought he would be okay and while I was away I got a call from Mark Mapletoft [England A head coach] talking about how well Bats had gone in training but he said he wasn’t going to be able to make it.
“We then got a scan and he has got a slight fracture in his leg. It is not too bad, but at this stage, we are hoping he will be back for around the Leicester game [on December 21], so we have lost another second rower.
“It is unfortunate for Bats because he has been working hard to be seen at that next level and I know he would have really performed at that level. It sounds like he probably would have started for England A, but as I said to him he has got that recognition on the back of his work here with the Bears and once he gets over his rehab and back into training he needs to push on for involvement in the Six Nations, if not there is another England A game here at Ashton Gate.”
Lam is set to name a young side to face Ampthill on Sunday in the Premiership Rugby Cup with just a five-day turnaround to playing Harlequins in Round Seven of the Gallagher Premiership.
Lam said: “Second row is our problem position right now. We lost George Taylor, Steele Barker, Josh Caulfield and now Joe Batley. We are hanging in there, the difficulty is getting quality training done and that is when you have to bring in guest players, but at the moment we are okay. James Dun is fully fit and Joe Owen has been really flying. I am really pleased with Joe, he is flourishing and showing the benefit of the work he has been putting in with the coaches. Then of course we have got Steven Luatua, Santi Grondona, Bill Mata, all of these boys who have had time in the second row and I have had a word with all of them to be prepared, you might have to push in a few scrums fellas.”