Bristol Bears are on the verge of signing Irish international Harry Byrne as fly-half cover following two serious injuries to the club’s first and second choice players in the key playmaking role.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam admitted he is concerned at the lack of cover in the specialist position having lost AJ MacGinty for four months to a knee injury that requires surgery and then Max Malins to an Achilles injury which will rule him out for the rest of the season. Having opted not to bring in a specialist fly-half when Welsh international Callum Sheedy left the club in the summer for Cardiff Rugby, that leaves Bristol currently replying on 21-year-old academy product Sam Worsley or centre James Williams.

While Williams, who made his playing return from a pectoral injury off the bench from Friday night’s 38-0 defeat to Sale Sharks, has played at stand-off that is certainly not his primary position and there is a considerable drop off from USA star MacGinty in his ability to execute Lam’s high octane attacking game-plan.

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Lam said: “Jimmy and Benhard Janse van Rensburg can cover those positions, but it's not their number one positions. Jimmy his number one position is 12 that can cover 10. Jimmy's main rugby is at 12. So we're just going to keep learning and growing those guys, but obviously you can see with the amount of games of rugby, with our number one and two out, we're certainly going to have to look for some cover because if something happened to Sam or Jimmy, we've got no one to really step in there except for someone who's out of position."

The Irish Independent report Lam has moved quickly to fill the void by landing out of favour four-cap Irish international Byrne on a three-month loan deal, reporting the 25-year-old could even make his debut this weekend in the Bears' Gallagher Premiership clash away at Saracens on Saturday. Byrne featured for Ireland in last season's Six Nations title win, but has not played for his country since and has struggled for game time for Leinster this season with Sam Prendergast's rise, making just four appearances."