Injury crisis swamps Bath as three internationals ruled out
After a disappointing start to the season in the Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup, Bath have been dealt further blows by the losses of three key players to injury.
The club issued an injury update on Friday afternoon, with clarification on the fitness and availability of Joe Cokanasiga, Zach Mercer and Henry Thomas moving forward.
Cokanasiga was a member of the England squad at the recent World Cup, although he arrived back at Bath with a knee injury. The update states that Cokanasiga is unable to “begin a competitive campaign” and that the club have enlisted “world-leading experts” in order to get the best opinions on how to deliver an “optimal path to recovery”.
Similarly, dynamic No8 Mercer has also been ruled out with a knee injury and although they gave no timeline on his potential return, they are also consulting specialists this week on his injury which was suffered against Ulster at the Rec last weekend. The club will provide further updates when they have them.
Unfortunately for Thomas, his season is over, with the prop having suffered an ACL injury against Wasps on November 2. Bath bolstered significantly in the front row over the summer, although his loss will still be keenly felt as the club seek to bounce back from their poor start to the campaign and compete on two fronts.
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It has been an unenviable start for new director of rugby Stuart Hooper and the former second row gave his take on the injuries to three key players. “The nature of the game and the collision-based demands of the competition is an incredibly tough part what the players do, and it is unfortunate that Zach and Henry have incurred injuries in recent weeks. They are both a huge loss.
“We are all bitterly disappointed for Henry, especially considering the amount of injuries he has had to recover from in the past few years. He has always demonstrated a huge amount of determination when it comes to his rehabilitation and we know this will serve him well again.
‘It means a huge amount. I first watched the club when I was ten, above the ground looking into it on the bridge above, and dreamt one day playing for them’
– New director of rugby Stuart Hooper tells @heagneyl exactly why @bathrugby is so special to himhttps://t.co/Dg1KXa83VA— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 14, 2019
“Joe is a phenomenal talent and a powerful athlete, and we must manage him very carefully in the coming months to allow for the issues he has come back from Japan with to begin to be resolved. We have no doubt that Henry, Zach and Joe can come back stronger and our Performance Department will support them in every possible way to ensure they have the best rehabilitation and return to performance.”
Bath are in action this weekend against Harlequins in the Champions Cup where they welcome back Anthony Watson and Francois Louw from World Cup duty, with the latter filling the void created by Mercer’s injury at No 8.
WATCH: RugbyPass went behind the scenes with the Tonga national team as they prepared for the 2019 World Cup in Japan
Comments on RugbyPass
Best way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
117 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
2 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
117 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
2 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
117 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
3 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to commentsNRL players don’t have anywhere near the number of Tests. Some people would be happy having Rest Homes full if 40 yo ex-players walking, or hobbling more like it, into walls. It’s just a game!
4 Go to commentsNOW Razor is worried about ABs getting injured or overplayed! Didn’t bother him last year. He happily played his AB Crusaders.
4 Go to commentsWhat is the World Rugby U20 players born year.
2 Go to comments