Schoeman is ruled out for remainder
Rhys Priestland should be back in the 10 jersey for Bath Rugby this weekend when Worcester Warriors come to The Rec.
The news Welshman Priestland is in contention to start in Round 14 of the Gallagher Premiership having pulled out in the warm-up ahead of Bath’s 38-19 victory over Newcastle Falcons last weekend, comes as a significant relief.
Discussing the situation with 50-cap Welsh international Priestland, Bath director of rugby Stuart Hooper explained: “It was a precautionary pull-out if you like at Newcastle
“He was sore, he had a sore shoulder going into the game and then in the warm-up he felt it a bit more and with Tian having been training well, and we knew it was something which could happen, so we put Tian in there and pulled Rhys out.
“He should be fine this weekend.”
Bath have four players away with England this weekend for the final round of the Guinness Six Nations in Anthony Watson, Charlie Ewels, Will Stuart and Beno Obano; while Taulupe Faletau is looking to win a Grand Slam with Wales in Paris.
Prop Jamie Bhatti looks likely to remain with Scotland having been a replacement in their 27-24 defeat to Ireland on Sunday.
However, despite flanker Sam Underhill’s return to fitness and fine form following a hip injury, he remains with Bath rather than linking up with England, who have called in Harlequins’ Joe Marchant this week as cover for injury doubt Henry Slade, rather than promoting Jonathan Joseph from the shadow squad.
Unfortunately, fly-half Tian Schoeman has been ruled out for the rest of the 2020/21 season with a knee injury sustained during Saturday’s win.
The 29-year-old will undergo surgery in the coming weeks as the first recovery stage. He will then work with Bath’s medical department on his rehabilitation.
Schoeman arrived at The Rec in January from the South African side the Cheetahs on an 18-month contract and has played six times for the Blue, Black and White, starting at full back in the victory over Northampton Saints and at fly-half for the first time in the 38-19 win over Falcons on Saturday.
Hooper said: “We all share Tian’s heartbreak – our main priority right now is to give him our full care and support so that he can focus on starting to recover.
“This will feel like a huge setback, especially so early in his time with us, but Tian is an experienced player and he will give everything to his rehabilitation just as he does his training.”
In more positive news, centre Cam Redpath is nearing a return to club action from the neck injury he sustained on his Scotland debut against England in the opening game of the Six Nations.
Hooper said: “Cam Redpath is progressing well, he is up and runlarkhall ning and in that stage now where he is not quite back in full training but he is doing all his conditioning and he has had a big improvement on his neck.
“I don’t think it will be too long until we see him back in the mix for selection.”
Flanker Josh Bayliss also received a call-up to train with the Scottish senior side for the first time during this Six Nations tournament but any chances he had of forcing his way up head coach Gregor Townsend’s pecking order were dealt a blow by a concussion on club duty.
Providing an update on Bayliss’ status, Hooper said: “Josh is good.
“He is on a graduated return to play from a head injury.
“With Josh we are just making sure he is absolutely right before he comes back. He is probably a couple of weeks away.”
Asked why Bayliss hadn’t come back into the pool for selection after the normal six-day return to play protocols following a failed HIA in a game, Hooper said: “It wasn’t more severe than a ‘normal’ head knock, but he had another in the not too distant past so it is just a case of managing it well.
“We are very cautious with the head injuries in making sure the guys are absolutely right and if you saw him running around at training you would think he was absolutely fine but there is an element of having to manage this.
“We want him fit this week but we want him to be fit for the next ten years to play for Bath so we have to manage it.”