- Director of Rugby Alan Solomons spoke to the media ahead of the Gallagher Premiership match against Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate on Saturday.Here’s what Alan had to say:
On Bristol
- It’s the case that every single game is a massive challenge. Bristol, like every team in the Premiership, are well coached and they will be well-prepared.
- They have got some quality players and it will be a tough game. They are a team that plays with tempo so it will be a reasonably quick-paced game.
How important is it to start well?
- The opening part of any game is critical, we saw with that with Wales at the weekend, but there are also key momentum shifts during a game.
Cornell du Preez’s return to training
- Having Cornell back in training is a real positive for us at a time when GJ van Velze is out injured.
- Cornell has just had his first full week of training since the first week of the season and he’s come through it well.
- There is no reason to believe that he will not play for us before the end of the season.
- He’s as tough as nails. The injury he suffered against Wasps was unfortunate but horrific. It was an injury that you see in Formula One but rarely in rugby. We are fortunate in this country to have fantastic hospital facilities, outstanding doctors and surgeons and first-class treatment.
Josh Adams winning the Grand Slam with Wales
- I think that Josh has been outstanding in every game he has played. He has established himself as a regular in a team that is now number two in the world.
Will Ben Te’o play this weekend?
- Ben has trained with us on Monday and again today.
- He started four games for us before the Six Nations and played well.
- He missed the Ireland match through injury, played a full match against Italy but only had three or four minutes against Scotland on Saturday so he’s not played a lot of rugby in recent weeks.
Injuries
- Ollie Lawrence rolled an ankle playing for England Under-20s against Scotland. He’s still got to see a specialist but it likely he will not play again this season.
- Jack Singleton is back in training but he won’t be playing this weekend.
- Ashley Beck is progressing nicely and we hope he will be back playing again before the end of the season.
- Perry Humphreys is still two to three weeks away from playing.
- Francois Venter suffered a head injury against Exeter and will have to go through the return-to-play protocol before he can play.