Harry Randall return headlines upbeat Bristol medical bulletin

Bristol boss Pat Lam says England international scrum-half Harry Randall has won his race against the clock and will return from his hamstring injury in time for Saturday’s clash with Harlequins at Twickenham.

Randall has been out of action since sustaining his injury against Leicester Tigers on the opening day of the Gallagher PREM season, while the Bears also welcome back tighthead George Kloska and full-backs Rich Lane and Noah Heward.

Winger Louis Rees-Zammit and tighthead prop Max Lahiff, who both had to pull out of the 61-12 win over Pau on Sunday due to tight calves, will also be back.

“This is our first headache for selection this year compared to the early games. Harry is a leader and will soon be approaching 150 games for us, but Kieran Marmion has really stepped up,” said Lam.

“And he has put some good competition in there, but that has always been there because they are both world-class internationals,” he said.

It will be the first time the Bears have played at Twickenham since they lost 26-19 to Bath in ‘The Clash’ in April 2019, after their scheduled visit in December 2022 to play Quins was postponed because of train strikes.

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Lam says that only a handful of his squad have played at Twickenham before, so it will serve as a good learning experience ahead of potential PREM Finals.

“I asked the guys in the week how many have played at Twickenham, and not many hands went up, so it’s a huge occasion, and we know Quins haven’t lost their last nine there, so they certainly get up for it.

“We are under no illusion about how tough it is going to be. We haven’t been there since the Bath game and have been working hard to get there in the final. Everyone is excited to get there.

“We had a chance to play there two or three years ago, but it got cancelled because of a train strike. Hopefully, there aren’t any train strikes this weekend, and we can fulfil the fixture. Going to Twickenham is a big privilege,” he added.