Siale Piutau is set to return to action from a serious knee injury considerably earlier than originally expected.
The inside centre has not played for the Gallagher Premiership club since December 1 and was originally not expected to return until late April, perhaps even early May.
But Bears director of rugby Pat Lam has revealed the 34-year-old former Tonga captain is close to a return and Bristol Live understand he could even feature in the club’s next game against Saracens at Ashton Gate on March 20.
Piutau who joined Bristol in 2017 and has made 47 appearances for the club signed a new one-year contract extension last month with Lam citing his leadership qualities as being just as important as his playing attributes.
Piutau’s return will be particularly timely with the club short in the centre department with Will Hurrell sidelined having suffered a suspected stroke playing against Leicester Tigers in January and now Piers O’Conor on the injury list with his ankle in a space boot.
Speaking after Bristol’s fifth straight Gallagher Premiership win against Harlequins on Sunday, Lam explained: “Piers [O’Conor] has been struggling with an ankle sprain, and has been getting through the games but we needed to probably pull him out now and get it looked at before it gets worse.
“And fairplay to him he did two games [playing injured], but I thought Alapati Leiua and Sam Bedlow were superb today, they did a great job defensively and on attack and Henry Purdy came back well from his [hamstring] niggle and played into centre as well.
“And Siale Piutau is not far off, so it’s a good time too with the week off to get Piers looked at ready for the run in.”
If Bristol were to reach the European Challenge Cup final, with a quarter-final against the Dragons on April 5, the Bears will play every weekend from March 19 through to June 6, with the Gallagher Premiership play-off and Grand final the following two weeks.
That makes this weekend’s break from action worth its weight in gold to Lam and his side with the Bears boss confirming he will give his players some time off to recuperate.
He said: “The guys who are injured will be in getting rehab done, but the rest of the squad will be in on Monday for the review and then give everyone the rest of the week off to recover and enjoy some family time and be ready for a massive run in.”
