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Pat Lam's prognosis on Max Malins as Bears win comes at a cost
By Jon Newcombe
Bristol Bears Director of Rugby Pat Lam has confirmed that Max Malins, the Gallagher Premiership's leading try-scorer, will be out for around eight weeks after suffering a knee injury in last Saturday's derby win at Bath.
The recently announced Premiership Player of the Month for September has started the season on fire with five tries in three appearances - as many as he managed in the whole of last season's league campaign.
However, he is now likely to miss four rounds of the Premiership and the start of the Bears' Investec Champions Cup campaign, which kicks off against Leinster at Ashton Gate on December 8th.
Meanwhile, fly-half/centre James Williams is forecast to be out until Christmas after undergoing pectoral surgery.
Lam says both injuries came about as a result of Bristol's determined rearguard effort at The Rec.
"I think when I look at their injuries and how they happened, it typified the effort we put in," he said.
"With Jimmy, if you look where he came from to stop Ted Hill from scoring, in the act of doing that he has injured his pec, and he'll be out for about 12 weeks.
"And Max Malins, when Sam Harris made his solo try, if you look at where Max came from, from the far side of the field, he put his body on the line and unfortunately got injured, too.
"Sometimes people question his contact but the tackle he put on him, and I think Sam Harris actually got injured at the same time, he got his leg stuck in between Sam's legs, and it gave his knee a bit of a shake. He's had a scan and the expected time back is about eight weeks.
"The way they did those injuries shows their commitment to the cause."
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Latest Comments
The next guy is probably on that list. The "too young" guys are all 23+, which is 2 years older than dc was when he got an ab start. Being that young did him no harm. He scored 20 against wales on debut. But dc was also a freak player and a few years into the good super rugby, when SA was involved, so not such a step up. A tough northern tour is not their time. Hopefully next year's super rugby will see one of them put their hand up.
Go to commentsBunting is delusional. The job is clearly too big for him. The Black Ferns have shown none to negative, "growth", as a team. Individuals may have progressed, true, but the team is a mess. They have been fully professional since 2022 but play like amateurs. We are back to 2021 NH tour vibes (onfield that is).
The granting of an historical 4 year full contract to Kennedy Tukuafu remains Bunting's most puzzling decision. At 26, she had offered little of the on-field quality deserving of such status. Her relegation v FRA was imminent imo & Bunting gets kudos for this decision. I would've tossed her completely, myself. In all tests this tour, she has been ineffective & doesn’t seem to have a point of difference (required of a loosie). Jackaling, high tackle rate, clean, carry, ???
Another puzzling selection is Bunting continuing to use our best 6 Alana Bremner 178cm & 77kg at lock in place of our best lock, Chelsea Bremner, 181cm & 88kg. Maia Roos at 179cm & 80kg needs a big body at her side. Neither she nor Alana are power locks.
Going forward I'd reshuffle the back 5 as follows:
4 Roos 5 Chelsea 6 Alana 7 Sae 8 Mikaele-Tuu with Olsen Baker bench impact. Alana is an option to cover lock, if required. I'd also be tempted to use a 6/2 split depending on the opposition.
One issue I have with this selection is that the same core backline that leaked a million tries from set play v ENG is taking the field. Sure, FRA got thrashed by CAN, but it's still FRA, quite capable of stepping up & blasting us. What will be different? Backfield comms? Midfield reads? ?? Scary stuff.
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