Bristol Bears are set to bring in more scrum-half reinforcements this week ahead of the derby clash with Bath Rugby, but will look to the academy to cover a shortage at tighthead.
Bristol lost third choice tighthead Max Lahiff to a calf injury in their 31-19 victory over Wasps on Friday night, leaving just Jake Armstrong and Ashley Challenger as the club’s fit and available players in the specialist position with former All Black John Afoa injured and Kyle Sinckler away with England during the Six Nations having earned his 50th cap on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the club’s only fit scrum-half, Theo Strang, struggled against Wasps and was replaced by utility back Ioan Lloyd in the 65th minute. Lloyd may have played in every position in the backline but a scrum-half he is not.
Harry Randall remains away with England having started against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday while Andy Uren and Tom Whiteley are both out long term with knee injuries.
Toby Venner, who was signed on loan from Gloucester until the end of the season injuryed his knee last weekend against Worcester, and Bath loanee Max Wright was ruled out with a training injury.
Lam said: “I have never been anywhere in my whole rugby career as a player or a coach, I have never even seen it, when you lose five scrum-halves at one time.
“Hence we have only got one in the club at the moment and that is Theo [Strang] - and he is only on trial. That is why we had to put Ioan Lloyd onto the bench to cover scrum-half. Hopefully, we have got some reinforcements coming next week.
“Max Green was down to play this week, he trained extremely well on Monday, he was all set to go and start this game then I got the call after lunch to say he had hurt his wrist in training and he was out.”
“I picked an experienced forward pack to make it as easy as possible for the inexperienced half-backs. Tiff did really well off the back of a really good performance from the forwards."
Discussing the situation at tighthead prop in more detail, Lam said: “That is a worry. We are being hit at nine, our full-backs and tighthead.
“Our first choice full-back is Charles Piutau [Achilles], the second is Luke Morahan [hamstring], then Ioan Lloyd and Henry Purdy.
“At tighthead we have got no Kyle Sinckler [England duty], no John Afoa [leg strain] and now we have got no Max Lahiff.
“We brought Jake Armstrong back from loan to Edinburgh, but those three positions are problematic.
Lam continued: “Our injury rate is not higher than normal but they are are all in the same positions which is unusual.
“We have got to hang in there for another couple of weeks until everyone comes back.
“We will have a look at the market but we will have look at some of the boys in the academy as well.
“Jake Armstrong is here so we will reassess our options this weekend.”
Following Lahiff’s exit in the 39th minute on Friday night, Bristol’s scrum struggled, posing a challenging question for scrum coach Afoa ahead of next weekend’s trip to The Rec.
