England international full-back Max Malins looks to have played his last game of the season after the star back suffered an Achilles rupture in training with Bristol Bears on Tuesday.

Malins was on the verge of a comeback from a knee injury he suffered against Bath back in October and had been named internally to play for the Bears this weekend on their trip to Welford Road to face Leicester Tigers where he looked set to go head-to-head with England rival Freddie Steward, but disaster struck as he made a swift change of direction at the High Performance Centre and he hit the ground with no one around him. After a swift assessment with a specialist, Malins has had surgery today.

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Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam said: "I have some unfortunate news. We named Max Malins to be involved this week and he started off training really well and then unfortunately he ruptured his Achilles. I really feel for Max because he was flying for us at the start of the season and then started to do some training with us last week, modified with the return to play group. It is the first time we have ever had anyone rupture their Achilles during my time here. As most people know it is a big injury but we will know more after his surgery."

The 27-year-old who re-joined the Bears from Saracens last season having had a season on loan at BS3 previously, and was named the Gallagher Premiership player of the month for September after scoring five tries in the early rounds.

Lam continued: "He was just buzzing to get back and you could see his influence on the team, so I really feel for him, especially when I saw with George Furbank suffering his injury (broken arm) I thought this was a great opportunity for Max to push his claim with England again, but unfortunately this is the cruel nature of sport sometimes."

The injury leaves the Bears with 31-year-old Rich Lane and 20-year-old Benjamin Elizalde as their primary options in the 15 jersey for the rest of the season. Lane signed a new contract with the Bears late in the day having joined the club from Championship side Bedford Blues in 2022. Elizalde was picked up this summer after excelling for Argentina U20s at the world championships.

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