Ollie Lawrence: Bath hope to have England centre back from injury before new year

Bath hope to have centre Ollie Lawrence available before the end 2025 after he picked up a hamstring injury while on England duty.

Lawrence started England’s wins against Fiji and New Zealand but missed the final Test of the autumn against Argentina last weekend because of the injury.

Bath travel to Saracens on Sunday (15:00 GMT) in the first of three Prem matches between now and 3 January, while their Champions Cup campaign also starts against Munster on 6 December.

Head of rugby Johann van Graan said Lawrence will be a “few weeks away”, while hooker Will Stuart also took a “bang” against Argentina with his fitness being monitored.

“I do foresee that he [Lawrence] will be back in play before we get to 2026 – I don’t want to put a timeline on it but he could definitely be back involved if things go well before the end of 2025,” Van Graan said.

Bath are also hopeful of seeing winger Will Muir on the pitch for the first time this season before the end of December.

Muir, who was Bath’s top try scorer last season, has not played all campaign after having surgery on an ankle injury.

“Will Muir is back in some parts of training so he’ll definitely play before the end of the year,” Van Graan said.

“So is Alfie Barbeary. He got the hamstring injury against Bristol a few weeks ago, he’s also back in certain bits of training so hopefully we see him before the end of the year.”