Pat Lam is confident enough in Bristol Bears’ tighthead prop resources to send Jake Armstrong out on loan to United Rugby Championship side Edinburgh Rugby despite not having the services of Kyle Sinckler for the next seven weeks.
Bristol Bears’ first-choice tighthead Sinckler is set to start for England through the Guinness Six Nations, with a momentous clash away at Murrayfield against Scotland for the Calcutta Cup up first this weekend.
Despite losing the 51-cap British and Irish Lions star until the end of March, Lam has agreed to send 27-year-old Armstrong out on loan with the former Jersey Reds man having made just 23 appearances for the club since joining the Bears in 2018, four coming off the bench in the Premiership this season.
With no A-League this season, getting competitive game time into players has been problematic for directors of rugby up and down the land, with Lam reiterating that Nathan Hughes’ loan to Bath is alslo motivated by the same factor.
“Nathan is still a Bears player," Lam said.
“I think we need to tidy up a few misconceptions. We have got 50 odd players here when you include the academy and we don’t have an A League so ultimately we have got to pick a 23 for the weekend but there are a lot of guys who don’t get any rugby.
“We have got a great relationship with Hartpury and John Barnes [director of rugby], and the beauty of that relationship is the players train with us week-in, week-out and then go and do one session with Hartpury, but they get game time.
“Game time is key.
“Once Nate went to Hartputy [on loan] everyone saw that and I had four or five clubs ringing me, wanting to loan Nathan, and Bath made the most sense because it allowed Nathan to stay here in Bristol with his family and close to us and we can call him back if we have any injuries.”
“I was pleased he did well for Bath [winning man of the match on his debut in the club’s win against Harlequins on Friday night]”
Focussing on tighthead ahead of facing Newcastle Falcons at Ashton Gate in Round 15 of the Gallagher Premiership this weekend, Lam said: “We have world-class John Afoa and we have got Max Lahiff as well, there is no issue there. We are very strong at tighthead, we were before Kyle came in as well.
“We signed Kyle as an international and we always knew he would be away [during the Six Nations] so having Jonny [Afoa] and Max [Lahiff] has been class for us.”
Armstrong will be available for the United Rugby Championship clash with Leinster in Dublin on Friday, February 11 and the Bears have a call-back option if required.
Lam added: “This is a good opportunity for Jake to get some quality rugby and game time. I’ll be in dialogue with Jake throughout his time in Edinburgh and we believe it’s a mutually beneficial move for both parties at this time.”
Edinburgh are in need of frontrow reinforcements with WP Nel on international duty with Scotland in the Guinness Six Nations and Luan de Bruin still side-lined through injury.
On Armstrong’s signing, Edinburgh heead coach Mike Blair said: “We’re obviously a bit light at tighthead with international selection and injury, so it’s brilliant that we’ve been able to bring in a player of Jake’s quality and experience.
“He’s a powerful guy, and a strong scrummager, so we’re delighted to be able to add him to the front row unit ahead of a challenging run of fixtures.”
