Bath unavailability at 50 percent, reveals Hooper
HALF of Bath Rugby’s squad are either unavailable or injured, director of rugby Stuart Hooper has confirmed.
Having lost five matches from five to kick-off the 2021/22 Gallagher Premiership season, a cascade of injuries looks set to further hinder Bath’s chances of climbing off the foot of the table this weekend, with Wasps coming to the Rec.
Boss Hooper told his weekly press conference: “We have a significant number of injuries at the moment.
“We have a squad of 58/59 players, including our academy, and at the moment we are working with only about 50 percent of that because of injuries and international call-ups.
“That is a significant number of people unavailable to play. Some of those are short-term, some of them are long-term.”
Among the short-term injured are Will Muir and Josh Bayliss, who have soft tissue injuries, while long-term absentees include Anthony Watson, Cam Redpath, Joe Cokanasiga and Tian Schoeman, who all have knee problems, while England loosehead Beno Obano looks set to be the latest international facing a significant spell on the sidelines with a knee injury after his leg buckled from under him in the 31-17 defeat to Harlequins on Saturday.
Hooper added: “He has definitely got a significant knee injury. He has had a scan and we are waiting for reports and a specialist opinion.”
With so many players injured, Bath are understood to be releasing a more detailed injury update later this week. On Saturday, the Blue, Black & Whites also lost full-back Tom de Glanville to a knee knock from the tackle that saw Joe Marler yellow-carded, while scrum-half Joe Simpson and number eight Jaco Coetzee both suffered concussions
Providing an update on the trio, Hooper said: “It is slightly more positive. Tom de Glanville had a nasty collision, amazingly his head and neck are fine, luckily, but he got hit on the knee in the process of that, so it is a collision injury rather than anything else. He could be on his feet again this week.
Hooper added: “Jaco was an immediate removal from a head knock, so he is in the (Graduated Return to Play) process and we will make sure we do the right thing by him. Joe Simpson is the same.”
Scrum-half Ben Spencer is closing in on a return from the hamstring injury he suffered on the opening day of the campaign, although Ollie Fox and Max Green will likely be competing for the number nine jersey this week.
Hooper said: “Ben Spencer is up and running and has done bits and pieces of team training as well. He is not there yet but he is not far away.”
Bath are without their England contingent of Sam Underhill, Charlie Ewels and Will Stuart this weekend as the trio have linked up with Eddie Jones in Jersey for a training camp ahead of the autumn internationals.
That means Hooper is looking short of options at lock with just Josh McNally and Mike Williams the other senior men who have played there this season, but the Bath boss confirmed Will Spencer is closing in on a return from a calf injury.