Anthony Watson explains 'grudges' he still has for his old club Bath
England winger Anthony Watson has given a withering account of his brutal exit from Bath last year, claiming he still holds a grudge about the decision to let him go and how it was handled. It was 2013 when the now 29-year-old switched from London Irish to The Rec, but their nine-season relationship had a tempestuous break up in December 2021 at a time when Watson was just a couple of months into his rehabilitation of a serious ACL injury.
Watson claimed he had been under the impression that Bath wanted to keep him and would be offering an extension beyond the summer of 2022. However, just days before a plus-one clause in his existing contract was due to be activated, he received a call from the club telling him they had nothing to offer and wouldn’t be keeping him for the 2022/23 season.
The news sickened Watson and even though he is currently enjoying a successful move to Leicester and is back in the England team, how Bath treated him continues to leave a sour taste. Appearing on this week’s The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast with James Haskell and Mike Tindall ahead of this Friday’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final trip to Leinster with the Tigers, Watson unloaded on Bath in a damaging way.
“I’m not happy with how it was finished and I don’t think it was dealt with in a respectful manner. I hold grudges. There is no way I will let that slide,” he began, recalling how things finished up at Bath when they were imploding under the then-director of rugby Stuart Hooper.
“I felt like I had given a lot to the club. One, a pay cut during covid which for them to sign a million-pound player 18 months later [Finn Russell] is questionable in my opinion. But there were also times, one example that springs to mind was they made me captain for a European Cup game (versus Harlequins in January 2020) which was a dead rubber and I was struggling with my calf.
“Retrospectively I should never have stepped foot on the pitch. If I was a selfish-type player I wouldn’t have played that game, but I decided to play because I wanted to do what was best for the club and I ended up tearing my calf and missed the first three games for England. That is not a great thing for me to have done personally but I wanted to do what was best for the club.
“The same happened when I did my ACL (versus Saracens in October 2021). I played two weeks before that. I wasn’t supposed to because you were supposed to have 10 weeks of mandatory rest coming back from a Lions tour, I wanted to do what was best for the club so I came back, played and then two weeks later I did my ACL.
“I’m not trying to get sympathy from anyone, I am just trying to explain why I am so frustrated. I felt like I had given a lot and the way it was managed in the end was terrible in terms of there being a clause, plus ones and stuff in people’s contracts. Mine was December 31. I was flying to America with Alyse to spend new year’s over there and I got a call the day before the clause saying, ‘Sorry mate, we can’t keep you’.
“All indications prior to that were ‘we are going to try and keep you’. I was okay, expecting them to make this offer or this offer, and it was, ‘No, we can’t offer you anything’. By that point, my head was just fried. I felt like I had given so much to this club, of years, injuries, playing through stuff I should never have played through, and just getting cut like that.
“I personally was extremely upset by that. Some individuals involved avoided me for six months until my contract was finished and never really gave me the answers as to who made the decision. I just didn’t like how that was handled.”
With Watson’s current Leicester riding high in the Gallagher Premiership and in the last-eight in Europe, he couldn’t resist a dig at Bath’s years of underachievement. Asked to explain how much he is enjoying life at the Tigers, he said: “The rugby side of it at Leicester has been amazing.
“Strange with Steve (Borthwick) leaving mid-season and Richard (Wigglesworth) stepping up but it’s no surprise to me why they have been so successful in the last two years because their programme, everything they do is down to a tee. Like, there is nothing in the schedule that is pointless. It has been good.
“After the Six Nations, we came in and played straight away and I remember trying to deal with it in my head. It was strange because usually, I am going back to play for nothing (at Bath) and then we are in Europe and stuff so it’s trying to get my head around that. But genuinely it has been good, I am really enjoying it.”
Watson, though, is unsure which club he will be playing for in 2023/24. His deal with Leicester was just for a year and he has been linked with a switch to Castres in the Top 14 following the upcoming Rugby World Cup with England.
“It comes down to a lot of things. At this stage in my career ideally, I would like to live at home near my parents in Surrey. My missus isn’t from here [she is American], so we have got no help with the little one. That is the ideal scenario for me. I want to play for England as much as possible but I also would explore an opportunity in France if it came about,” he said, adding that Top 14 offers have been a conversation amongst the England squad.
“It has to be talked about because ultimately it is a bit of a problem. I wouldn’t say all of those players (who have taken up Top 14 deals) are desperate to leave the country but circumstances have forced them to do so. I can’t remember how long Joe (Marchant) has been at Quins but for him to go to Stade, whether it’s a lifestyle decision or not, it’s pretty rough for them to not be able to keep him.
“It is definitely being discussed amongst the lads but ultimately, we can’t make the decisions of how to solve them. We have got ideas and suggestions that we put forward,” he said before admitting the players are listened to more now than before. “Moreso now which is definitely important because previously the players have been very much the last people (to be involved).”
Comments on RugbyPass
Brett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
1 Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
4 Go to commentsHow did it end a draw. South Africa didn’t score any points as far as I can see
4 Go to commentsNo doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
1 Go to commentsDom kant
193 Go to commentsBen is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
193 Go to commentsPerhaps we may need to put an asterisk on NZ’s ‘87 WC win since the Boks weren’t there. You know, just as a reminder. Poor Ben Smith. Go cry somewhere else.
193 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
3 Go to commentsThanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
3 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
4 Go to commentsOne does not expect anything more from Ben Smith who epitomises the worst of New Zealand media arrogance and an inability to balance what he has to say about any team that beats the All Blacks. His reference to context is pathetically thin. He does not comment that Frizell deserved a red card given his blatant manipulation of his body to ensure that he could drop his body weight onto Mbonambi’s lower leg. No mention of the ball lost forward before the All Black’s try (lost in-field of the 5 metre line and gathered beyond). The All Black commitment and effort was superb and there was little in it. Given the Springbok passage to the final and the loss of their hooker in the first three minutes, their resolve and capacity to win their fourth final out of eight attempts (not three out of ten) deserves the praise that has been forthcoming from media around the world, worth reading and listening to. Ben should join his “pundit” friends on TV - he would fit in well. This sort of article reduces any credibility Rugby Pass has ever had. Why persist with this sort of nonsense? The man does his country and a rugby blog a disservice.
193 Go to commentsEtzebeth went on to say: “I would never dream of saying that systems stay in place following a change in captain. To say that would be deeply, deeply, disrespectful of Siya. A while back an Irish person told me they would be fine without Sexton, so I’m just responding to that.”
3 Go to commentsClose games are what we want to see…. What a match it was…. I am sure that everyone was drained by the end of it. The reality of it all there has to be a winner and a loser. The fact that we still talking about it is almost 6 months to the day Rugby is the winner.. Asante sana… Here is to 2027 and what it will bring out.
193 Go to commentsIt’s going to be a good game. COYQ
1 Go to comments“Shock”, the guy was casually saying he was just slightly surprised. Nowadays if you say anything it gets taken completely out of context. Calm down everyone.
156 Go to commentsAll I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
193 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
193 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
193 Go to comments