Bristol Bears’ season dealt another blow as the extent of Gabriel Ibitoye’s injury is revealed
Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam and flyer Gabriel Ibitoye.
Bristol Bears will be without the services of star speedster Gabriel Ibitoye throughout the month of January after he sustained a leg injury while on Premiership duty.
The 26-year-old has been in red hot form for Bristol in the Premiership and is currently the competition’s leading try-scorer with seven five-pointers after nine rounds of matches.
However, the former England U20 and U18 representative was forced off the field late in the opening half of last weekend’s record home defeat against Sale Sharks.
‘We just need to get that right’
“Gabs Ibitoye will probably be out for four, five, maybe six weeks with his leg,” Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam told Bristol Live. “It is not far off [too serious] but we just need to get that right.”
Ibitoye‘s injury means he is set to be sidelined for Bristol’s Premiership matches against Saracens at StoneX Stadium on Saturday and against Newcastle Falcons at Ashton Gate on January 26.
He will also be ruled out of the Champions Cup matches against Benetton at home on January 12 and away to Clermont Auvergne a week later.
Ibitoye’s absence is the latest setback to the Bears who already have full-back Max Malins out for the rest of the season with an Achilles injury and wing Siva Naulago only set to return in March from a calf issue.
Meanwhile, fly-half AJ MacGinty and full-back Max Lahiff are also sidelined with long-term injuries.
‘We are certainly a bit short in our back three’
Lam added: “Noah Heward is back available as well and Kala [Kalaveti Ravouvou] can over the wing as well. We are certainly a bit short in our back three but we have enough players there.
“Toby Fricker is still around, we extended his loan out for another five or six weeks to make sure we are covered.”
Heward has overcome a hamstring injury sustained during pre-season training which needed surgery to rectify it and is set to make his first appearance of the 2024/25 campaign against Sarries on Saturday.