Bristol Bears have signed former BUCs backrow star Ed Timpson on trial until the New Year after the forward caught the eye of the club’s scouting team playing Down Under.

Timpson made his debut for the Bears in Saturday’s 78-19 defeat to Bath Rugby in the Premiership Rugby Cup but is set to be given a chance to prolong his stay at the club. After graduating from the University of Nottingham, Timpson has been playing in Australia for Northern Suburbs in the Shute Shield and has quickly established himself as one of the standout players in the league.

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Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam has made no secret of the fact the Bears have had to widen their net in terms of recruitment having been left with the smallest academy catchment area in the country, sending scouts out to the recent U20s World Championship in South Africa which resulted in the club landing Argentina full-back Benjamin Elizalde having been blocked from speaking to their first choice target Ben Redshaw about a move by league rules.

Discussing the recruitment process around Timpson who was first identified playing in the university leagues, Lam said: “We saw Ed when we were looking at the BUCs league and he stood out in the BUCs league. Then when we were looking for a replacement we saw he was standing out in the Shute Shield, we have got a couple of players down in Australia playing in that competition so we have our eyes on that and he was a stand-out.

“We looked at his footage and I saw the way he was throwing himself about and I said ‘Let’s give this guy a chance’ so we brought him in.

“He will get some game time and we will take a good look at him. He is a backrower who certainly fits into the way we play. What really impressed me is there are some big island boys over there playing in the Shute Shield and he was cutting them to pieces so that is a good standard.

“He have signed him for a couple of months, we have got a couple of injuries across the back five, Kofi Cripps injured his ankle playing for Dings and is out for about eight weeks, so it was timely Ed has come in."