Pat Lam named an all-English Bristol Bears matchday 23 for Saturday’s final game of the season against Sale Sharks, with academy hooker Tomas Gwilliam set to make his first Gallagher PREM start.
The selection came as Bristol entered the trip to CorpAcq Stadium with 26 players unavailable and 14 English-qualified players out of action, yet still met the season-long target for English-qualified player numbers set under the Professional Game Partnership. Nine Academy players were included in the squad, underlining how heavily Lam has had to lean on the club’s youngest professionals to get to the finish line.
Lam said he was proud that Bristol had hit the required average of English-qualified players across the season, especially in one of their most difficult campaigns. He said the latest injury problems had deepened again this week when Ellis Genge, Fitz Harding and George Kloska joined the treatment room alongside James Williams and a long list of absentees.
The Bears’ injury list has cut across the squad for much of the year, with long-term absences affecting backs and forwards alike, including Harry Randall, James Williams, Joe Jenkins, Jack Bates, Gabriel Ibitoye, Noah Heward, Rich Lane, Aidan Boshoff, Gabriel Oghre, Joe Batley, James Dun, Steele Barker, George Taylor, Kofi Cripps and Paddy Pearce. That left Bristol needing to manage both selection and regulation at the same time, with clubs risking a fine and even a points deduction if they fall short of the 15-player threshold across league and EPCR fixtures.
Lam said Bristol applied for dispensation because of the scale of the injury list, but the RFU’s sympathy did not turn into a change for this season. For Saturday, though, the immediate consequence is a side built around Academy players and a front row of Jake Woolmore, Gwilliam and Max Lahiff, with Harry Randall and Academy fly-half Sam Worsley at half-back and James Dun and Rich Lane set for what could be their final appearances for the club in the North West. Bristol have already cleared one hurdle by reaching the EQP average; the next question is how many bodies they can recover before their next competitive match.
