Bath Rugby host Exeter Chiefs on Saturday in Round Nine of the 2025/26 Gallagher PREMMax Ojomoh of Bath looks dejected after being injured. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Bath Rugby centre Max Ojomoh will miss this weekend’s Gallagher PREM clash against Exeter Chiefs, but is expected to return to action sooner than initially anticipated after limping off with a calf injury on Saturday.

Bath head of rugby van Graan also confirmed full back Tom de Glanville and locks Charlie Ewels and Ewan Richards will miss the Round Nine contest between two of the league’s play-off contenders.

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Speaking on Tuesday in his midweek press conference, van Graan said: “Max went through some scans and some more checks with our medical department. It’s not too serious. Hopefully, he’ll be back on the field in a few weeks’ time with his calf. We’re very glad about that because he’s a key player for us. So that’s good news, although it’s not available this weekend, it’s not going to be a very long time out.

After a player of the match performance for England against Argentina in the Autumn, Ojomoh looks set to add to his caps during the 2026 Six Nations, and van Graan was quick to ease fears he would be a doubt for the international tournament.

He said: “It’s obviously early days with his calf, but when on the field it didn’t look good at all , and Rory [Murray, Bath’s head of medical] was pretty worried. But the MRI gave us good news. He might be back next week or the week after. Again, with all soft tissue, you don’t exactly know until he starts running. But it’s certainly a lot rosier picture than it was when he was on the medical table on Saturday evening.”

Providing an update on de Glanville, who smashed into the post at high speed trying to step Tommy Freeman scoring for Northampton, van Grann said: “If you look at that footage in slow-mo, it’s a horrible collision on the post. We lost Jaco Coetzee like that last season. Tom will be out for a few weeks.

“But when I saw the collision, I thought we’re going to have to put him together with glue. That’s just a good example of why you need post protectors, because players give it their all to defend their try line.

“At first, we thought it was his back that was injured, but actually it is his calf, and it’s actually from the impact with the post itself. A contusion [deep bruising] can take some time to recover, but again, that’s a lot more positive than we thought initially.”

However, there is less good news when it comes to England international and former club captain Ewels, who is suffering from an infection in his leg which reared its head earlier in the month forcing him to withdraw late in the day for the club’s Champions Cup clash against Toulon.

Van Graan said: “Charlie Ewels has gone for some further specialist appointments to look at that leg of his, so he won’t be available for a number of weeks.

“Charlie is one of our more important players. He’s kind of the glue in the team. He’s our line-out captain, and he’s such an influential player. He’s a player with such huge experience. So, yes, it’s definitely a shame that he’s out. He won’t be available for quite a while. It is frustrating, but I think in this specific instance, you get injuries, but once you get an infection and someone is actually sick, our health is so much more important than rugby.”

The club’s second row resources have been further depleted with Ewan Richards sidelined after suffering an ankle injury in the win away at Newcastle before Christmas.

Van Graan said: “He hasn’t run again yet. Hopefully, we can get him back on the field in some shape or form at the back end of the week. And then we’ll take it from there.”

In better news, van Graan confirmed that scrum half Bernard van der Linde, winger Will Muir and number eight Alfie Barbeary were all looking strong in training this week and back in the selection mix to face Chiefs.