Bath's Jamie Bhatti breaks arm 10 minutes into pre-season return to rule him out of Premiership opener

Jamie Bhatti’s second stint at Bath has been derailed before it properly began after the Scotland prop broke his arm during the club’s final pre-season fixture against Glasgow at Old Anniesland last Friday, ruling him out of the Gallagher Premiership opener at Harlequins.

Bhatti, 33, had come on as a substitute just 10 minutes before suffering the fracture in a game Bath won convincingly, 53-5. He revealed the injury himself by posting an X-ray image on his personal Instagram account, captioning it with characteristic humour: “cracking start to the season.” The club had yet to issue an official statement at the time of writing.

The 36-cap international arrived at Bath in the summer on a two-year deal, signed by head coach Johann van Graan as one of three new recruits to compensate for the departure of loosehead prop Francois van Wyk to Connacht. Van Graan had spoken highly of the signing at the time, saying: “He comes from a winning environment with Test experience and has become a very good ball carrier.”

Bhatti previously spent time at Bath on loan from Edinburgh in 2020, making 11 appearances during that spell.

With Bhatti sidelined, van Graan will turn to Beno Obano — who is set to join Pau — and Scott Kirk to cover the loosehead position in the short term. It is widely expected that Bath will move to make an injury-cover signing to fill the gap left by the unfortunate Bhatti.

Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu was among the many players who sent messages of support, posting “speedy recovery brother” in response to Bhatti’s Instagram update.