Bristol Bears backrower Dan Thomas has joined United Rugby Championship side Scarlets on a two-week loan deal with immediate effect, the club have confirmed.
The openside flanker joined up with the Welsh region on Tuesday ahead of the club's fixtures against Connacht and Leinster on October 21 st and October 28 th .
The 29-year-old former Wales U20s captain came through the Scarlets Academy and played for Llanelli RFC and then 11 senior matches for the Scarlets before signing for Gloucester in 2014. He joined West Country rivals the Bears in 2017 and has gone on to make more than a century of appearances for the Premiership side.
READ MORE: Bath Rugby 0-29 Bristol Bears LIVE: Reaction from the Premiership Rugby Cup
Thomas started against the Cherry and Whites in Bristol's 31-28 defeat in Round Six of the Gallagher Premiership, but with Bristol without a game this weekend due to Worcester Warriors' suspension from the league having gone into administration, the Carmarthen raised flanker heads out on loan.
Bristol director of rugby, Pat Lam, said: “Scarlets are without a few back-row players and now that we are without a game this weekend, this is a great opportunity for Dan to get some additional game time against two strong opponents.”
The loan does slightly surprisingly rule Thomas out of the Bears trip to Northampton Saints in Round Eight of the Gallagher Premiership on October 29, however in a world of trying to fit players into the salary cap it will get the flanker's wages off Bristol's books for a couple of weeks with Lam expected to announce new arrivals in the coming days.
Thomas, who hails from Carmarthen, linked up with the Scarlets squad on Tuesday.
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel said: “We are grateful to Bristol for allowing us to bring in a player of the quality of Dan into the squad. We have been hit hard in the back row with Tomás Lezana, Dan Davis, Carwyn Tuipulotu, Aaron Shingler and Blade Thomson unavailable because of injury and Vaea Fifia and Sam Lousi having picked up suspensions in recent weeks.
“We have two big games remaining in this block of URC fixtures and having Dan here on loan will give us extra depth as head out to Galway for another crucial game this weekend.”
