Bath pick up four injuries in Northampton defeat

Guy Pepper and Will Muir were two of four Bath players injured in the 35-34 loss to Northampton

Bath will be without four players for their upcoming Champions Cup match against ASM Clermont Auvergne.

Guy Pepper, Will Muir, Sam Underhill and Jaco Coetzee all picked up injuries in the last-gasp Premiership defeat at Northampton Saints at the weekend.

The quartet will miss the third pool-stage game of the Champions Cup on Sunday, with Bath currently second bottom of a tight group after losing their opening two matches.

England international Underhill suffered another ankle injury, Coetzee was concussed and flanker Pepper pulled a hamstring, as did Muir.

"Our medical team are getting one or two more opinions [on Pepper]," said Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan. "It won't be a week or two, it will be a bit longer.

"Will Muir and then Sam Underhill also took a knock to that ankle of his, so we are investigating further what that looks like.

"And then Jaco Coetzee obviously failed his HRA [head injury assessment] after that unfortunate collision, which was a massive collision in the midfield."

Van Graan described the contest with Northampton as "incredible" with high-speed running from both teams, which led to the high number of injuries.

"We took a few knocks on the weekend which again just shows how attritional that game was," he said.

"If you look at the collision data, we made a heck of a lot of collisions in that game, so both teams would have felt it.

"I think that game was a real battle. You will lose in this game, you will win in this game and you will get injured, so that's why everybody loves to play this game. It's a collision sport.

"Injuries are part and parcel of it. We've got fantastic staff here in terms of getting players back on the pitch.

"So yes, disappointed, but we move forward and there is nothing you can do about it now. We'll try and get them on the pitch as soon as we can."