Bedford Blues’ full-back Rich Lane, who took over the captaincy at the beginning of this year, will end the league season in the Gallagher Premiership after signing a loan deal to injury hit Bristol Bears.
The one month deal will give the Premiership side important cover after a spate of injuries left the 10th placed team short of players as they hold off the likes of Newcastle Falcons and Worcester Warriors towards the bottom of rugby’s top tier.
Lane could make his Premiership debut this weekend as Bristol travel to bottom of the table, Bath where Lane first started out his rugby career.
The deal means Lane will miss Bedford Blues’ final two league games against Coventry and London Scottish, but he is expected to return for the Championship Cup campaign which begins at Nottingham on 8th April.
Lane skippered the side that saw off Nottingham comfortably on Sunday afternoon, and is in line to make his 100th appearance for the club if the Blues can defeat the same opponents across two legs in the cup.
Read: Adamson hat-trick helps Bedford Blues to Nottingham double
“Rich thoroughly deserves this opportunity”
Director of Rugby, Mike Rayer does not seem too concerned about losing his captain for the remainder of the league season, citing the cover available in the back three:
“Rich thoroughly deserves this opportunity to have a crack at the Premiership. He has been brilliant for us over several seasons now and he goes away with everyone’s best wishes.
“We have a bit of cover in the back three, so with him only missing the next couple of games it works well for us and Bristol at this time.”
Lane added: “I’m extremely grateful to Mike and the club for allowing me this opportunity to test myself again in a Premiership environment. I won’t be away for long and look forward to being back for the Championship Cup.”
Despite only missing out on two league games for the Blues, his presence will surely be missed as Bedford aim to end the season on a high with two winnable games against Coventry and London Scottish to come.
Rich Lane has made 97 appearances for the Blues in his career at Goldington Road to date.
