Bath centre Ollie Lawrence has apologised for the way he reacted to a clash with Northampton Saints scrum-half Alex Mitchell during an epic nine-try Gallagher Premiership encounter at Franklin’s Gardens.
The incident occurred late in the game with Bath trailing 32-31 when Lawrence clashed heads with Mitchell, his England team-mate.
Lawrence halted his run after contact and went to ground holding his face, with the referee awarding the league leaders a penalty and issuing Mitchell with a yellow card.
The contact wasn’t forceful enough that Lawrence needed to go off for a head injury assessment and the Bath man was seen smiling as Finn Russell prepared to take the resultant penalty.
The Scotsman slotted it amid a sea of jeers to put Bath on the verge of a mammoth comeback win.
But there was one final twist when Northampton were awarded a penalty shortly after the restart, with Fin Smith putting it over to seal a 35-34 win with the final kick of the game.
After the game, Lawrence took to X (formerly Twitter) to apologise for his actions.
“Wasn’t to be today… Credit to Saints,” Lawrence wrote. “Big shift from the boys second half. We’ll take the two [bonus points] and move on.
“P.S. Apologies if my actions today offended anyone. On review, I understand the frustration voiced! I’ll be better.”
The win gave defending champions Northampton a huge boost in their bid to secure a play-off spot.
Phil Dowson’s side still sit eighth but closed the gap to the top four to just eight points.
At the other end of the table, despite losing, the two bonus points saw Bath extend their lead at the top over Bristol Bears, with Saracens and Leicester Tigers moving up to third and fourth respectively.
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The post Ollie Lawrence apologises for reaction to Alex Mitchell clash during epic Gallagher Premiership game – ‘I’ll be better’ first appeared on Rugby 247.
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2025-01-07 16:37:06
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