Bath could be set to hand an 18-year-old scrum-half a senior debut as he recalled from the England Students side.
Bath take on Bordeaux Begles in the Champions Cup semi-final in France, and have an injury crisis at scrum-half developing.
They could turn to the son of former Bath legend Lee Mears to make his debut off the bench.
Isaac Mears journey to senior level
Isaac Mears is an 18-year-old scrum-half currently part of the England Students’ squad. The youngster only signed a senior contract last month and most recently helped the University of Bath side to a historic BUCS league and cup double.
Mears could follow in the footsteps of his dad if called up. Lee Mears played for Bath, England and the Lions.
Bath scrum-half injury crisis
If Mears were to come into the matchday 23, he would be Bath’s fourth-choice scrum-half.
Ben Spencer is “touch and go” after a shoulder injury ruled him out of the win over Harlequins.
Bernard van der Linde has had to have surgery on his ankle after he made his first Prem start against Northampton Saints.
This leaves one fully fit senior scrum-half option in Tom Carr-Smith.
Mears could be called up to play on the bench if Spencer is not fit for the clash, although Johann van Graan could have alternate plans.
He said to the BBC, “”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,”
The Lucu problem
The opposition for Sunday afternoon’s clash, Bordeaux Begles are one of the best attacking teams in Europe. A scrum-half with a wealth of experience leading the pack would be useful for Bath. They are going to need to be extremely defensively solid and clinical in attack. One of the best nines in the world for this is the opposition scrum-half, Maxime Lucu.
Lucu showed his quality in the quarter-final clash, getting the better of the France starter Antoine Dupont. It will be a strong contest for whoever starts at nine for Bath.
