Bristol Bears face Northampton Saints at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday in Round 14 of the 2024/25 Gallagher PremiershipBristol Bears’ Harry Byrne (Photo by Bob Bradford – CameraSport via Getty Images)

Pat Lam’s selection options with Bristol Bears heading to defending champions Northampton Saints on Saturday with just a six-day turnaround, are suddenly looking stripped back to the bone in a number of key areas following a series of injury setbacks.

Once again, Bristol’s second row is looking highly depleted, and the club’s stock of fit wingers is not looking much better.

Bristol were forced into three changes to their named squad ahead of Sunday’s 36-19 home defeat to Leicester Tigers with lock Jock Batley, winger Jack Bates and centre James Williams all forced to withdraw.

Explaining the situation with the trio of players, director of rugby Lam said: “We had to name the team for Leicester on Friday lunchtime, but we didn’t train until Friday afternoon, and unfortunately Joe Batley felt his glute; he strained that. I didn’t even know about Jack Bates until the next day, he came back having felt tight, they did a quick scan and he has twinged behind his hamstring. Jimmy Williams had an oblique injury that he is recovering from which we thought he would be alright with, but halfway through the training session, he wasn’t comfortable, so he pulled out as well.”

With Batley missing most of the season through a series of injuries, the second row has persistently been a problem area in terms of availability this season, although Bristol’s breakthrough forward of the season, Joe Owen, looks to be on the verge of a return from a shoulder injury.

Lam continued: “We have this curse in the second row at the moment, there are a lot of second rowers going down. Hopefully, Joe Owen will be back next week. He has been gone for five or six weeks now. Bat’s injury is just a strain, so there is a good chance he will make the Bath game, but unfortunately, we have lost James Dun for Saints after his head knock straight after half time, with that being a six-day turnaround.”

In the backline, Lam explained why scrum- half Kieran Marmion ended Sunday’s game playing on the wing after coming off the bench for star winger Gabriel Ibitoye. Ibitoye was making his first start since January, having just recovered from hamstring and calf injuries.

Lam said: “ He [Ibitoye] was just starting to feel some cramp, having just come back. The S&C and medical team monitor the players’ loads on the GPS, and he had some big runs and was starting to cramp, so the advice I had was we had better not risk him because he was right up the upper end.”

Bristol are being particularly careful with Ibitoye with fellow winger Siva Naulago having suffered a hamstring injury to go back on the unavailable list and utility men Max Malins and Noah Heward still sidelined with long-term injuries.

There is better news at fly-half heading to Franklin’s Gardens with Lam confirming that Irish international Harry Byrne should be available for the trip, having missed the Round 14 match with Tigers, after suffering a concussion in a training ground incident last week.