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Bath could give 18-year-old prospect Isaac Mears his first-team debut in Sunday’s Champions Cup semi-final away to Bordeaux-Begles after a sudden spate of injuries hit their scrum-half stocks.<\/b><\/p>\n
First-choice nine Ben Spencer was initially named in Bath’s side to face Harlequins on 18 April, but withdrew before kick-off with a shoulder complaint.<\/p>\n
Despite Johann van Graan’s initial optimism that the England international’s injury was a minor problem, Spencer is only “touch and go” for the club’s first elite European semi-final in 20 years.<\/p>\n
Back-up scrum-half Bernard van der Linde has had surgery on his ankle after being forced off 10 minutes into his first Prem start against Northampton on Saturday, leaving Tom Carr-Smith as the only fit senior specialist in the position.<\/p>\n
Mears, the son of former Bath, England and British and Irish Lions hooker Lee, only signed his first professional contract earlier this month and his most-recent appearance was for the University of Bath’s all-conquering student side., external<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Van Graan has hinted that, while he has promoted Mears into the senior set-up, he is also considering a leftfield positional switch as another means of covering scrum-half.<\/p>\n The 46-year-old South African alluded to the Springboks’ victory in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final, where their gamble of a ‘seven-one’ bench with no direct replacement for Faf de Klerk paid off in a 12-11 victory.<\/p>\n “One bit that the group knows, but the outside world doesn’t, is we go through multiple situational plays in training sessions throughout the year,” he said.<\/p>\n “In a worst-case scenario, you might see somebody play at nine that’s never played at nine.<\/p>\n “But if you go back to the World Cup final back in 2023, one team decided to go without a nine, so there’s many different things that we could do.<\/p>\n “We’ve got faith that Spenny [Spencer] will be fine on the weekend and whether he or any other player is not, we’ll be fluid and adaptable.<\/p>\n “There’s always two choices you can make with injuries \u2013 you can feel sorry for yourself or you can make a plan. And this group is exceptional at making plans.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n