Bristol Bears fans could get a first glimpse of exciting summer signing Gabriel Ibitoye on Friday night when the early Premiership leaders take on Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park.
A quadricep strain has kept the hot-stepping, explosive former Harlequins winger sidelined so far this season but director of rugby Pat Lam confirmed Ibitoye is available for selection this week having been the ‘24th man’, or travelling reserve for Bristol’s 40-36 victory over London Irish on Saturday.
Ibitoye has not been named in Bristol’s young development side to face Exeter Chiefs at Ashton Gate in the Premiership Rugby Cup on Wednesday night, very much suggesting he is in the mix for a run out in the North East.
READ MORE: Bristol Bears v Exeter Chiefs LIVE: Premiership Rugby Cup team news announcements
With Siva Naulago recovering from knee surgery, Bristol’s wing options in the league this season have so far been Luke Morahan, Rich Lane, Jack Bates and Henry Purdy. But those ranks are about to get bolstered.
Discussing Ibitoye, Lam said: “He is on the selection table this week, he has worked his way back.
“Part of the process of getting him as the 24th man and warming up with the team is getting him to experience the build-up and how we do things at Ashton Gate.
“He is someone who was flying in pre-season but got injured just before the pre-season games.”
Meanwhile, Lam also explained the mystery absence of Toby Fricker who finished last season as a starter on the wing but has yet to feature in 2022/23,
Lam said: “He has been out with injury. He was actually down to play last week and he got injured in training. He just had a slight tweak in his hamstring and he was devastated with that. The good news is it was only a grade one so he should only be out for two to three weeks but he was in to play last week [against London Irish].
Lam continued: “He was the form winger of last year and he was flying in pre-season but then he got injured just before the pre-season games started. He took a knock which meant he missed the three pre-season games while others performed in those games so selection is about the here and now.
“That is why he was pretty gutted with the latest injury because he worked his way back to get his chance and then in training last week he felt a slight tightness in his hamstring and had to pull out of selection.
"That was the frustrating thing because he was just about to go in pre-season, then he worked his way back again, but he will get another chance.”
Lam also confirmed second row Joe Joyce is touch and go to face Falcons having taken a bang to the hip against the Exiles.
He said: “He is just being monitored at the moment, we are hoping he will be available for selection.
“He just took a hip pointer, those type of injuries depend on the person and how quickly they recover. Hopefully he will be there.”
Elsewhere there were no significant injuries from the victory over London Irish which saw the Bears go top of the Gallagher Premiership for the first time since finishing there at the end of the 2020/21 season.
