Steven Luatua & Sam Jeffries: Injured Bristol Bears flankers to return this season
- Published
Luatua's arm was wrapped up as he departed the pitch with a dislocated wrist against Harlequins
Bristol Bears are hopeful Steven Luatua will return before the end of the season, after he dislocated his wrist in their defeat by Harlequins.
Flanker and captain Luatua went off after 12 minutes, having scored a try in what would end as a 29-38 loss.
Third row partner Sam Jeffries was similarly replaced immediately after scoring early, with a knee injury.
"Both will be back before the end of the season," Bristol Bears assistant coach Conor McPhillips said.
"It's just working through with the medics exactly the timeframe.
"I think initially we were pretty worried, but I think there was some good news within the bad news."
Jeffries took a break from rugby in 2019 with a long-term knee injury, however McPhillips confirmed this new incident was unrelated.
"It was just like an impact injury. I think a guy, as he was scoring, just fell on his leg and it went a way it didn't want to go.
"Sam has actually been a bit back up and running this week so it's not as bad as first feared, but again I still can't give you an exact timeframe on that," he said.
Bristol face West Country rivals Bath on 18 March in the Premiership Rugby Cup and are already without a number of players due to injury, particularly at scrum-half.
Max Green made his debut for Bristol at number nine against Quins, having signed from Bath on a loan deal in February.
McPhillips confirmed Green would be in contention to feature against his parent club, while Bath would be able to field number eight Nathan Hughes, who they signed on loan from Bristol in January.
"I think it's probably beneficial to both clubs. Loan players go out to get game time. I think Max and Nathan will have an opportunity to play this weekend between the clubs," McPhillips said.
"That's always the agreement with both sides, if Bath need Max and we need Nathan we can call them back. It's even more beneficial that Max is playing and Nathan is playing, so if they are called back they're ready to go."