Ollie Lawrence has apologised for his part in an incident that led to his England team-mate Alex Mitchell being sent to the sin-bin late in Bath’s defeat by Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens.
Bath were trailing by two points with four minutes remaining of a cracking Gallagher Premiership game when Lawrence careered onto a no-look pass from Max Ojomoh and bumped heads with Mitchell, the Northampton scrum half.
Lawrence spun away from contact and took himself down onto one knee, raising his hands to his face as if he had been stunned or sustained a broken nose. The England centre did not require a head injury assessment and Bath reported no facial injuries.
Saints fans accused Lawrence of milking the situation and the flicker of a smile as Mitchell departed to the sin-bin raised hackles around Franklin’s Gardens.
Northampton fans were already angry that Lawrence’s tackle on George Hendy at the end of the first half had gone unpunished, despite the Saints full back being forced to leave the field with a shoulder injury.
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As the home fans jeered, Finn Russell kicked Bath into the lead. Saints snatched a 35-34 victory with the last kick of the game. Afterwards, Lawrence expressed remorse on X and acknowledged the frustration of Northampton supporters.
“Wasn’t to be today… Credit to Saints. Big shift from the boys second half. We’ll take the two [points] and move on…” he wrote. “PS — Apologies if my actions today offended anyone. On review, I understand the frustration voiced! I’ll be better”.
Mitchell and Lawrence are set to be important figures for England in the Six Nations, which begins for them against Ireland in Dublin on February 1.
Gotovtsev’s Russia flag prompts internal review at Gloucester
Gloucester will hold an internal review before deciding whether to continue printing the Russian flag on the club jersey of their prop Kirill Gotovtsev.
Russia have been suspended by World Rugby since the invasion of Ukraine and the country is barred from competing in many sports. Russian athletes at last summer’s Olympic Games had to compete under a neutral flag.
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Gloucester have a policy of recognising the club’s capped international players by applying their national flag to the back of their cherry and white jerseys. Gotovtsev is understood to have had the Russian flag on his shirt since joining Gloucester from Krasny Yar four years ago but the club are now reviewing it after a complaint from a supporter with Ukrainian roots.
Gotovtsev, 37, was born in Siberia and competed in wrestling and bobsleigh before taking up rugby. He represented Russia at the 2019 World Cup and he has played in the Rugby Europe Championship.
