Steven Luatua is set to return to action to captain Bristol Bears on Saturday away at league leaders Saracens.
The former All Blacks flanker has missed the last couple of games with bruised ribs but is now fit to return to take over the captaincy from Ellis Genge who, along with Kyle Sinckler, is now away with England for the duration of the Six Nations until mid-March.
Speaking in midweek ahead of the Round 16 game of the 2022/23 Gallagher Premiership, Bears director of rugby Pat Lam revealed he has four players coming back into selection contention this week tp provide a boost, with more on the way in February.
He said: “Gabriel Ibitoye is available for selection which is good. Ed Holmes looks like he is back in the frame and Bryan Byrne has come back into the picture as well which is good and Steven Luatua is back in selection as well.
“There are some good options returning.
“It is a really big boost to have Stevie back, but in saying that we have put a lot of work into our leadership - with Ellis [Genge] being a part of that, but all our leaders. They are really challenging the environment and the way we are doing things."
Genge, who captained Leicester Tigers to the Premiership title last season before returning to his boyhood club in the summer, skippered the Bears for the first time in their final two Challenge Cup pool stage games this month.
“Reflecting on the weekend just gone,” when Bristol beat Perpignan 33-19 but scored all their points in the first half and then badly tailed off in the second, “there has been some real honesty and we have got to improve our training standards,” Lam said.
Lam’s comments come after he spoke at length to his side following the display at Ashton Gate, with the changing room door firmly closed as he delivered his message - a telltale sign of unhappiness amongst the coaching staff.
He continued: “The way we have been playing sometimes reflects the way we train, we have some really good sessions and we have some pretty average ones.
“The boys are determined to make sure training is much tougher mentally and demanding.
“This week is probably the two best training sessions we have had and if we can make that consistent and that becomes the norm for us then I believe it will reflect in our performance this weekend and going forward.”
But one man not doing much training at the moment is lock Joe Joyce who has so far had his final season at his boyhood club before a move to Connacht in the summer hampered by a series of injuries.
He was withdrawn late in the day on Friday having been originally named in the starting side to face Perpignan.
Lam explained: “Joycey has been struggling with pain in his Achilles and on the night before the game it flared up, so it was touch and go on the morning of the match and we decided it wasn’t good enough.
“We will see how he goes this week but after this weekend we have got a Prem Cup game against Sale and a bit of time off. We will make a call but what we don’t want to do is risk him if it can cause more damage.
"After this game this weekend we certainly have more time on our side to get a few more guys back.
“Charles [Piutau] is not too far behind, he won’t be ready this week but he certainly should be ready for Newcastle [on February 17] after the Prem Cup games.”
There was less good news for academy product Deago Bailey who injured his ankle ligaments on Friday having started on the wing against the French Top 14 side.
Lam said: “Unfortunately Deago has hurt himself in a fallback tackle and we are looking at surgery there which is really unfortunate for him.
“A lot of players suffer this type of injury when you get tackled from behind and fall back on your leg, we have a rule in training when we go full contact that there are no fallback tackles allowed.
“It is a shame for Deago because this has been an excellent year in his development. He has had some excellent games and shown some real improvement. He got an opportunity again against Perpignan and he was going well until the injury happened, but as we said to him it is an opportunity to go away and work to improve other areas of his game and come back bigger, stronger, faster.”
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