Less than 80 minutes into the Premier League season, Bristol Bears have lost their first-choice forward, flyback and top-scoring wing to long-term injuries.
Over the next few weeks and games, the casualties continued to mount.
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At the height of the injury crisis, Bristol had 15 defenders unavailable, making it difficult to organize training.
Players were signed on short-term loans, academy players were thrown into the game and director of rugby Pat Lam admitted their chances of reaching the end-of-season play-offs had increased.
Fast forward to mid-March and the Bears are third in the standings and enjoying one of their best winters ever.
They return to the Prem at Leicester City on Sunday, having won their last five league games since the end of November and three of their four Champions League matches in between.
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“We all hear these things about things you can’t control, but it’s how you adapt and deal with it,” Lin told BBC Sport.
“The best thing that happened to us after we lost these three boys [Harry Randall, Gabriel Ibitoye and AJ MacGinty] Saracens gave it their all in the first round – they spanked us that day [scoring] 50 points.
“It made us realize that we were making a lot of changes – and we had to. We were giving away aspects of the game in order to do these basic things well and then slowly build it back up.”
“The meeting felt empty – no one was there”
In a contact sport like football, every team must deal with multiple injuries at some point during a game.
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But Bristol’s number of missing players has stretched what is already the league’s smallest squad to its limit.
Prop Jake Woolmore said: “Sometimes we are in meetings and it feels empty because no one is here and the international players have missed some time and you think: ‘Do we have a team?’ “
“It’s a little weird.”
Training sessions as coaches struggle to put the two teams together can also be “tough.”
Woolmore added: “Everyone you have fit could be in the starting XV and then your lads are running around in the opposition – everyone has to step up.
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“You might be running props on the wing for drills or drills and everyone has to do their job that week.
“Then you have to ‘cotton’ those who are healthy because we can’t afford anyone [else to go]”.
Captain Fitz-Harding said taking their game plan back to basics was the best thing they could do.
“When we’re missing key game drivers, the most important thing is that we’re all on the same page,” he said.
“The most cohesive teams tend to do the best, so the challenge was how to reduce the level of cohesion in the team, and the answer we came up with was to make it as simple as possible.”
Sam Worsley scored seven times – a Prem record for a Bristol player – and scored in the win over Gloucester [Getty Images]
Carrie Lam has said many times that when a player cannot play, they will not dwell on what they have lost, but focus on the next person who can step up.
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Often, this means asking academy players to fill the gaps.
Four academy players started their 23rd match against Northampton in November.
Hooker Tomas Gwilliam has just made his Premier League debut, while defender Aidan Boshoff and prop Jimmy Halliwell have only played four top-flight games. Bristol beat Saints 46-12.
Academy fly-half Sam Worsley also fills in for McGinty and Scotland international Tom Jordan who missed five games in the autumn.
The 22-year-old, who has just started playing for Deans Crusaders in the third tier National League this season, converted a last-minute penalty in a narrow win over Exeter.
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He then scored and scored 14 points against Gloucester, one of two games in which he was named player of the match.
“When the young guys step up and they don’t necessarily get a ton of game time and perform to get results, it just gives the team confidence in where we are as a team as a whole,” Harding said.
While fielding so many developing players wasn’t necessarily the plan when the season began, this sink-or-swim approach helps build depth now that the season has reached a critical point.
Add in the players returning from injury in recent weeks, and it’s no wonder the mood around the Bears is positive as the league returns.
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“Training is delicious. [on Wednesday] That’s because everyone wants it and feels like they’ve earned the opportunity now,” Woolmore said.
“No one is happy that they’re not involved. That desire and hunger will only serve us well as we move forward.”
Carrie Lam reiterated that the injury crisis is the biggest challenge he faces as a coach.
Even though the worst seems to be over, during the Premier League’s eight-week break it was revealed that two of Bristol’s first-choice players, Joe Bartley and Pablo Rubiolo, have been ruled out – with Rubiolo set to miss the remainder of the season.
No matter what happens between now and June, injuries seem destined to be the story of the team’s season.
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Bristol have fielded 43 players in the Premier League so far – fewer than Northampton (44), Gloucester (45) and Harlequins (46) – and Harding believes the fact that so many have contributed has also brought greater unity to the squad.
“It’s great that the team feels like they’ve all made a huge contribution to where the team is,” he said.
“We have a lot of lads who have contributed in important games and won important points in those games. It brings the whole team together.”