Blow for Bath as injury strikes in-form flanker
BATH Rugby are set to be without outstanding flanker Miles Reid heading to Northampton Saints in Round Ten of the Gallagher Premiership on Saturday.
The 23-year-old flanker has been a bright spot for Bath during a difficult campaign but now looks set to be sidelined for several weeks after picking up a chest injury in the heartbreaking 16-23 defeat to Exeter Chiefs on Friday night.
Reid’s impressive personal form during the 2020/21 season saw him called up to train with the senior England squad this summer only to suffer a fracture to a bone in his face in training.
Discussing Reid’s latest injury, Bath head coach Neal Hatley said: “We’ve still got to confirm one or two things with a scan. He could be out for a while but I don’t want to say too much until we know exactly what it is. He is still a bit sore and ginger.
“It’s going to be a little while, he’s not going to be involved in the short term which is a blow for us because, like Orlando Bailey, he’s come through our Academy system and I thought he was phenomenal against Exeter, the hits he put in and his work around the breakdown in tandem with Sam Underhill and Josh Bayliss.”
Bath’s backrow options now look slightly restricted with Mike Williams sitting out the third game of his ban following a red card against Wasps while South African Jaco Coetzee is sidelined with an ankle injury suffered against Gloucester last month.
And Hatley confirmed Welsh international number eight Faletau is still not ready to return to action having not played a club game this season after representing the British and Irish Lions in South Africa in the summer.
Hatley said: “Taulupe is still out with that angle into his calf injury.”
The good news is Scottish international centre Cam Redpath is closing in on a return to action in January, along with England winger Joe Cokanasiga.
Redpath suffered an ACL injury in Bath’s 24-20 defeat to Sale Sharks in
May 14, while Cokanasiga injured his knee in the club’s only pre-season game against Cardiff Rugby in September.
In Redpath’s absence, England U20s international Max Ojomoh has flourished to provide real competition in the centres when everyone is available again.
Of Redpath, Hatley said: “He’s been back running and training with the boys, it’s just now about working him back into contact situations and hopefully, in the not too distant future, we will have Cam back available soon.
“Hopefully, we will have Cam back, Joe Cokanaisga back, we get these guys back and they add value, like with the internationals coming back into the squad last week.”
Meanwhile, Bath have added former Wales international Tom Prydie on a trial deal as intended injury cover for Anthony Watson.
Bath are likely to be without Watson until the end of the season after the British and Irish Lions and England star injured his ACL on club duty against Saracens in the autumn.
Hatley confirmed Wales’ youngest ever international, Prydie, now 29, is training with the club at Farleigh House having left United Rugby Championship side the Scarlets at the start of November after four seasons and 40 games.
Prydie has experience of playing in English rugby having featured briefly for Wasps in 2012 but most of his career has been spent across the bridge with spells at the Ospreys and the Dragons as well as the Scarlets.
Hatley said: “Tom’s come in, obviously with Ant [Watson] down and Tian Schoeman still coming back from his ACL injury he got at Newcastle [back in March].
“Tom was obviously Wales’ youngest capped player, he’s played a lot of good rugby in a very good Scarlets side, he has played for the Dragons and he adds a bit of experience.
“He’s come down for a few weeks, he’s started off really well in training and he’s helping back up Tom de Glanville (at full back) and as we move forward put his hand up to get picked in the side.
“He was leaving the Scarlets and it was a good opportunity for us to get help in an area we’ve been caught short in with Ant getting injured.”
Prydie was hailed as Welsh rugby’s boy wonder when he became the youngest player to play Test rugby for Wales, winning his debut cap against Italy in the Six Nations in 2010 at the age of just 18 years and 25 days. However, despite the early promise Prydie has only gone on to earn seven caps for Wales, the most recent of which came in 2018.
Explaining why Bath were keen to bring in the versatile back, Hatley said: ‘When you look at our back three, barring Roko, it’s pretty young. Tom de Glanville, one of our own boys, has been brilliant and is just getting better and better every week, but he’s 20. Max Ojomoh’s 21, Orlando Bailey’s 20, Ollie Fox is young as well. These are young players.
“If we can add guys into the group who are senior players, Tom is an international player who has played a lot of good rugby and is 29-yearsold, so he has come in and helped some of these young guys out. That is one of the reasons Danny Cipriani has been as useful as he has been.”