Bristol Bears have been handed an injury boost ahead of Leicester Tigers

Bristol Bears have been handed an injury boost having come through their 20-7 win over Exeter Chiefs pretty much unscathed with the squad ready and raring to go ahead of Leicester Tigers in the PREM on Friday night.

Bears will go top of the table if they beat the Tigers, and Pat Lam will have two big names back available with Gabriel Oghre and George Kloska back from injuries which they suffered in the defeat to Saracens

Back rower Steven Luatua, who took a nasty hit to the mouth in that physical and bruising encounter, is all fine to play again at Ashton Gate on Friday, while AJ MacGinty and Pedro Rubiolo are fine to feature, with the minutes of key men being managed this season.

"The boys got through a physical game," Lam told the media on Wednesday afternoon. "That was probably the best part of it that we all got through it. Obviously, Steven Luatua took a pretty nasty gash to his mouth, and tried to improve his looks, but he's fine."

Hooker Oghre and prop Kloska, both of whom haven't featured in the past two weeks having suffered leg strains at Saracens are also back, Lam confirmed. "They are available now this week, both of them this week."

And American fly-half MacGinty, who missed pretty much the entirety of last season having snapped his Achilles, is also fit and raring to go against Leicester, but he won't play for the USA in their Autumn internationals against Hong Kong, Romania and Georgia. While the 36-year-old will join up with the squad to be in around their camp for some of the three weeks, he won't be featured as the aim is to ensure he is fit and firing to help his twin goals of making the World Cup in 2027 and getting the Bears that elusive title.

"He'll go down there and be off-field, spending some time with the group," Lam said. "There's a plan that's been outlined. You know, certainly, when he snapped his Achilles, there would be a lot of people, and they would have thought that he wouldn't make it back, but that side of his character and our Return To Play team ensured he got there. That process is ongoing, and we stay focused and all our decision making about where he plays, what he does, is all geared to ensure that we get the best out of AJ MacGinty."

But one name who won't be playing this weekend is star centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg who has been stood down from all rugby duties indefinitely after suffering two significant concussions in the space of three months.

The 29-year-old centre, who just signed a new contract extension with the Bears, has been advised to take a number of weeks away from contact rugby following a specialist assessment. England head coach Steve Borthwick confirmed he will play no part in the autumn campaign.

Van Rensburg suffered his latest concussion when he was knocked unconscious by the knee of England teammate Henry Pollock while trying to make a tackle during Bristol's win against Northampton Saints on October 3.

The indefinite stand-down means Van Rensburg will miss England's upcoming Nations Championship fixtures against Australia, Japan and New Zealand, as well as finals weekend in London at the end of November - but Lam said he was confident that he'd be back for the derby with Bath at the start of December.

"We were told four to six weeks, but it was preferred to be six weeks," Lam said. "We're in week four now. So he'll be ready to go when we come back for Bath, 100 per cent.

"He's been out training, doing skills work, and the only thing is, they've asked not to do any contract work and we waited six weeks, that gives them a good no time to build into the contact, for Round 6 at the Rec.

"He was keen to come back after the normal protocol and then the independent assessor wanted a bit more time on it. He really, wanted to play last week but everyone wanted to go on the more precautious side, and I supported that as well.

"He's extremely frustrated because he feels, but it's good. holding someone back, and, well, unleashing, later, which is the right way, doing things. I'm pretty sure offsite he's probably hitting something, tapping something somewhere. But he'll be a couple of weeks for that, and then he'll be ready to go all guns brazing for round six."

Lam had previously said: "He has just got to go through the process. Obviously, he has had two big concussions, so you have got to go through a protocol with an independent assessor; they determine the comeback time, which is great. This is what it is all set up for.

"In the old days, you just got up and rocked on, but we know the game is different now; it is all about the safety of the player.

"All he can do is keep going through the process. He is training, but we wait for the green light from the independent medical advisor on this and then away he goes.

"Because his concussions were two big ones, there is a process outside of my control and the club's control and I think that is a good thing. It is outside the player's control as well. There is frustration fro the player, but everyone has his safety as the number one priority. If he had his way, he would be out there straight away, but we have to make sure all our players are safe."