Bristol suffer injury blows to Malins and Williams

Max Malins scored Bristol's opening try against Bath last weekend

Bristol Bears' Max Malins will miss the chance of a place in the England squad for the Autumn internationals after suffering a knee injury.

The 27-year-old back, who was part of England's squad at the last World Cup, has been ruled out for at least eight weeks.

Malins had been in good form having scored five tries in the Bears' opening three Premiership matches.

In a further blow, centre James Williams has been ruled out for 12 weeks after being told he needs surgery on a pectoral injury.

The 27-year-old came off just 15 minutes into Bristol's derby win over Bath last week.

"I think when I look at their injuries and how they happened it just typified the effort we put in," Lam told BBC Radio Bristol.

"Jimmy [Williams] if you have a look where he came from to stop Ted Hill from scoring in the act of doing that he's got a pec muscle injury and he's having some surgery.

"Then when Sam Harris made his solo try, you have a look where Max came from the far side of the field and he put his body on the line and he got injured too.

"The way they did those injuries just showed their commitment to the cause."