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Bristol Bears facing the prospect of losing Charles Piutau for an extended period

Charles Piutau looking to impress at Bristol Bears. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Bristol Bears’ hopes of making a flying start to the return to their Gallagher Premiership have taken a significant blow after Charles Piutau was removed just 13 minutes after arriving on the pitch in the club’s final preseason friendly.

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Piutau left the field with his arm in a sling on Saturday, as Bristol lost 12-14 to Connacht at Ashton Gate.

Even in an ideal scenario it would be a race against time to be fit for Bristol’s opener with Bath on Friday evening but RugbyPass understands that the injury could be much more serious, with one source suggesting a 4-6-month layoff for the former All Black.

The club have yet to confirm the severity of the injury, but director of rugby Pat Lam did acknowledge following the game that Piutau had damaged his shoulder.

Speaking to the Bristol Bears official website, Lam stated that it “looks like a shoulder (injury), so at the moment the medical team are with Charles and we’re hoping it’s not too serious and we’ll update everyone when we know a bit more.”

If Piutau were to miss a significant portion of the season, it would be a sizeable bump in the road in Bristol’s bid to consolidate their place in the Premiership, with only Worcester Warriors deemed a more likely candidate for the drop by the majority of bookmakers.

The signing of Piutau was seen as a statement of intent by the club and his displays for the All Blacks, and more recently Wasps and Ulster, were enough to suggest that he could be a difference-maker for Bristol in what will undoubtedly be a hard-contested relegation battle.

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Luke Daniels, a summer signing from Ealing Trailfinders, and Luke Morahan, a former Australian international, would both be candidates to fill the void, should the Kiwi have to spend an extended period on the sidelines.

He was not the only player to suffer in the final weeks of preseason, with Wasps’ Jimmy Gopperth set to miss the majority of the 2018/19 season after undergoing a knee reconstruction following an injury also suffered against Connacht, whilst Northampton Saints’ new signing Dan Biggar left the field after just two minutes in his side’s friendly with Glasgow Warriors.

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J
JG 22 minutes ago
Springboks' No.1 status in world rankings coming under increased threat

Well said RugCs. These rankings never have and never will be of any significance to the Springboks. Our team plays to win for its country and its people. How many times do Rassie and Siya need to repeat that before it sinks in. Speak to Razor Robertson and I suspect he will tell you the same thing. Our countries will not allow their rugby success to be measured by an illogical, mathematically complicated concoction of a ranking system, dreamt up by some disgruntled and status-starved Northern Hemisphere lackeys of World Rugby in an attempt to score themselves some desperate international recognition as being the “best of world rugby”. What absolute hogwash!!

As with any of the other major team sports that compete for World Cup glory, a nation’s success is measured by its ability to win the “holy grail” of the sport - the World Cup!!!

Between them, the world's undisputed best two teams, South Africa and New Zealand hold 7 of the 10 World Cup Champions titles won thus far in Rugby's history. Until such time as any other nation surpasses that, you can bring along as many ranking systems as you like - you will NOT change that status quo.

AND here’s the irony. These two true champion rugby nations, neither of whom have the highest regard for World Rugby's “plastic ranking system” - quite coincidentally happen to be the top two teams on that very ranking table. Now, isn’t that hilarious.

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