Rugby Bears will face West rivals without key England and Lions star

BRISTOL Bears will be without their talismanic British and Irish Lions loosehead prop Ellis Genge for tonight's trip to Kingsholm to take on Gloucester Rugby in Round Four of the Gallagher Prem (7.45pm), in yet another short-term injury setback.

- John EVELY

Bristol Bears' Ellis Genge misses tonight's game. Inset, Pat Lam

(Getty Images)

Genge made his club comeback in last weekend's 18-14 win over Exeter Chiefs, after missing the first two rounds of league action due his mandatory 10 weeks of rest following the conclusion of the Lions tour to Australia, which ran into August.

The England star limped off the pitch in the second half following a knock to his shin and was seen icing it on the sidelines, but it is in fact an unsuccessful HIA that has ruled him out of tonight's game.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam explained the slightly unusual situation.

He said: “Ellis came off after he took a knock to his shin.

“I took him off, and then the independent match doctor called out that he needed to go through an HIA, which surprised him, and he doesn’t wear the mouth guard, so he had to do another different type of HIA, but he basically failed the process. So he was pretty frustrated, and that means that he’s ruled out too for this week, with it being a six-day turnaround.”