Bristol Bears hit by double ACL blow before Sale trip

Bristol Bears have lost Ethan Staddon and Noah Heward to anterior cruciate ligament injuries.

The pair have both had surgery for the knee damage, which affects the ligament that helps keep the knee stable. The news was reported by BBC Sport on 24 September.

Heward was hurt just five minutes into Bristol’s Prem Rugby Cup defeat to Exeter. The Cup is the competition that runs alongside the league season and is often used to give wider squad players game time.

Staddon only joined Bristol this summer. The versatile back-row forward — one of the tackling, carrying forwards who bind at the back of the scrum — moved across the West Country from Bath for the 2026-27 season.

Director of rugby Pat Lam said Staddon arrived with “a little bit of a knee niggle”, according to the Bristol Post. Further checks then revealed the full extent of the ACL problem.

Bristol are also without centre Kalaveti Ravouvou for around 12 weeks. He damaged a knee while on international duty with Fiji. A centre is a midfield back, often a team’s main line-breaker, and Ravouvou is unlikely to play again until after the November international break.

The list is growing before Bristol’s league trip to Sale. Prop Max Lahiff misses that game with an ankle injury. Props are the front-row forwards who anchor the scrum, the set-piece where the two packs push against each other.

There is better news at hooker. Harry Thacker is working through return-to-play protocols after a head injury picked up in the Cup games, the staged checks players must pass before they can play again. Gabriel Oghre, the hooker who throws the ball in at the lineout, is available after missing the end of last season.

For supporters, this means a stretched squad at an awkward moment. Two long-term knee cases test depth. A patched-up front row faces one of the league’s most physical away days.