Ibitoye set for Bristol return after four months out

Winger Gabriel Ibitoye was in blistering form before his injury, scoring seven tries in nine Premiership matches

Bristol have winger Gabriel Ibitoye available for their Premiership game against Leicester after almost four months on the sidelines.

Ibitoye has not played since the defeat by Sale on 28 December and was initially expected to be out for six weeks with a leg injury.

However, he suffered a setback during his rehabilitation which extended his time out.

"He's training well, he'll be available for selection this week," Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol.

"You don't realise how much he brings until he's actually gone and then when he's come back you see the huge difference, when he started training a few weeks ago, integrating into the sessions."

The 27-year-old had scored seven tries in nine Premiership games for the Bears before his injury and at the time topped the league stats for most metres and line breaks of any player this season.

"He's massive for us, a brilliant player. I don't believe there's a lot of players in the country like him on the wing and his ability to make things happen, his work rate's huge," added Lam.

"He's buzzing to get back. It's been a long time, probably one of the longest times he's been out."

Gloucester defeat a 'wake up call'

The Tigers visit Ashton Gate on Easter Sunday (15:00 BST) in what is set to be key clash in the race for the Premiership top four, with third-placed Leicester five points behind the Bears.

Bristol have not played since the 53-28 defeat by neighbours Gloucester three weeks ago, in which the Cherry and Whites scored four unopposed tries during the first 17 minutes, and ended the match with nine.

Lam also pointed to his side's victory over Exeter the week before as evidence of where they need to tighten up their defence after also conceding six tries.

"It was a really good wake-up call for us," said Lam. "The Exeter game as well, our defence was exposed even though we played well, we conceded 24 points in 17 minutes.

"I do believe it's an anomaly the way we played that [Gloucester] game and I think after a few days off, coming back, what I did love about it was there was a lot of hurt in the team and I saw the bounce-back in training.

"I'm confident that we certainly won't be that bad again this year."