Johann Van Graan: Bath head of rugby concerned by 'big trauma injuries' to players

Backrower Chris Cloete joined Bath this summer but has gone off injured in the two Premiership matches he's started

Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan said he's concerned by the number of "big trauma injuries" to players this season.

Bath lost flanker Chris Cloete and number eight Richard de Carpentier during their defeat to Wasps.

Sam Underhill, Charlie Ewels, Beno Obano, Jaco Coetzee, Ben Spencer and Tom de Glanville are among those also on the sidelines.

Bath are still searching for their first win of the Premiership campaign.

"[There's been] so many operations in the first few weeks. The scary thing is its not soft tissue, it's not like we're losing guys because we're overtraining," Van Graan told BBC Radio Bristol.

"It's literally guys with either a history of big injuries or guys breaking bones or dislocating knees or getting shoulders operated on. That's obviously concerning.

"That's one of the things I raised when I came in here, it's big trauma injuries."

England flanker Underhill is out for 12 weeks after having shoulder surgery this month.

Prop Obano, who missed most of last season with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, went off with another knee problem during the 31-29 defeat by West Country rivals Bristol in the first match of the campaign and also required surgery.

Number eight Jaco Coetzee is out for 10 weeks with an ankle injury, full-back Tom de Glanville pulled out of the starting XV to face Wasps with a hamstring issue and Ben Spencer has been missing with concussion.

Lock Charlie Ewels is already out for most of the season with an ACL injury.

Van Graan said Cloete was still seeking further specialist assessment but that "it doesn't look good for him", while De Carpentier remains unavailable for the match with London Irish.

"If you look at specifically ball carriers - that's the one thing I said we need our ball carriers.

"Beno now out for a significant amount of time, Sam, Jaco, then, in game two after a few minutes, you lose your new captain [Spencer], you've got the previous captain out for the season [Ewels].

"That's curve ball that gets thrown our way."

Bath endured an "unprecedented amount of injuries" last season according to Stuart Hooper, who Van Graan replaced as director of rugby. At one point only 50% of the team's top 30 players were available.

The club underwent a consultation last autumn following a poor run of results, with the physiotherapy department among the areas assessed and provisions to treat and prevent injuries.

Rory Murray was brought in as head of medical services this summer among a host of backroom staff changes.

"Very confident in Rory, he's been excellent," Van Graan added.

"If I can go back to the bigger picture, we are also comfortable with the fact that you don't just turn something like this around in three months."