Dethroned PREM champions Bath accused of 'robotic rugby' by club legend

Stuart Barnes, the Sunday Times rugby correspondent and former Bath and England fly-half, has accused Bath of ‘robotic’ rugby after their 27-26 PREM play-off defeat at the hands of Exeter.

Having thrown away a 26-10 half-time lead against a resurgent Chiefs side, Bath were camped on the visitors’ line in the dying throes of the match as their title defence hung in the balance.

Bath persisted with their tried-and-trusted, pick-and-go tactic, rather than opt to take a simple drop goal in front of the posts, or spin the ball wide to either flank, where there was acres of space. And, after 41 phases, they were held up and the game, and their season, was over.

Some have blamed Santi Carreras, a stand-in at 10 for the injured Finn Russell, others have pointed at the lack of leaders left on the pitch when a cool head was needed to make a sound, calculated decision.

Either way, while Bath bashed their heads against a brick wall, others were left scratching theirs as to how the 2025 champions had blown a third consecutive trip to the Twickenham final, including Barnes, who famously won Bath the Pilkington Cup in 1992 with a last-gasp drop goal.

Writing on X, Barnes said: “This is what happens when a team plays robotic rugby. A lack of live time thought when it was the rugby equivalent of what does 2 plus 2 equal … still, Exeter deserve immense credit for their effort … they’ve had one hell of a season.”

Drop goals are a largely alien concept to Bath. It is 80 matches since they kicked their one and only drop goal in the Johann van Graan era – Finn Russell’s left-footed effort in the 65th minute of the 42-24 win over Sale in March 2024.

Russell took the almost unprecedented option in this instance when the scores were tied at 24-24, and the ball just about made it between the poles and over the bar.

It was hardly convincing, which shouldn’t have come as a surprise because it remains the only drop goal of the Lions and Scotland international’s stellar career.

Rugby statistician Stuart Farmer has confirmed that it stands in splendid isolation in the 369 matches that he’s played in, while Carreras has yet to kick one in 204 matches at all levels of the game. Between them, that’s one drop goal in 573 matches.

Russell and Carreras, though, are not outliers in this respect; it’s been a fair while since the new breed of more attack-minded fly-halves came into the game and stopped using the drop goal as a method of keeping the scoreboard ticking over.

The desire to go for five/seven points through kicks to the corner and driving mauls is one of the principal reasons why it has become something of a collector’s item.

And unless the 2026 PREM final decends into an unlikely throwback to the era of Jannie de Beer and Jonny Wilkinson, this season will be the ninth consecutive season where the total number of drop goals can be counted on two hands, and the third season in six on one hand.

As of now, just four have been kicked, three by George Ford and one by Owen Farrell, two of the last bastions of old-school fly-halves, who still appreciate the value of ‘taking the three’.

It matches the tally of four in the 2015/16 season, when the decline in drop goal attempts became really noticeable.

Speaking at the time, Andy Goode, who jointly holds the record for most PREM drop goals (38), including a last-second, match-winning one in the 2008 play-offs for Leicester against Gloucester, stated: “Gone are the days when the more traditional fly-halves loved a drop goal. Players like myself, Alex King, Barry Everitt, Ludovic Mercier and Jonny, we were all 10s who ran a game and understood a game and had eyes on points all of the time.

“A lot of my thought process used to be that if I got a penalty, I’d better go for a drop goal because it gave me two shots to get three points rather than just relying on what might be a tough kick.

“Nevertheless, I’m gobsmacked that there was only four kicked in the Premiership. It is probably unfashionable for a fly-half to go for a drop goal now especially in open set plays.

England’s Elliot Daly added: “I think teams are more focused on scoring tries, they see that as more important than three points, and then only use the drop goal option if there is nothing else on, as an after-thought in a way.

“There are a lot of 10s in Premiership who like to take the ball to the line and maybe not sit in the pocket, which obviously gives you less time to line up a drop goal, so that could be another factor, I guess.”

Elaborating further on Bath’s poor decision-making in his Sunday Times column, Barnes concluded that, “had Exeter been in Bath’s position, be absolutely certain they would have gone for the drop-goal. Bath didn’t so much throw the match as pick-and-drive it away.”

After all, without Gareth Steenson’s two drop goals helping Exeter to build on their slender three-point first leg lead over Bristol in the 2010 Championship final, the Chiefs may never have been in the position they were in on Saturday.

Drop goals in the PREM by season (games in brackets)

1997-98 – 30 (132)
1998-99 – 31 (182)
1999-00 – 30 (132)
2000-01 – 32 (132)
2001-02 – 73 (132)
2002-03 – 64 (134)
2003-04 – 36 (134)
2004-05 – 68 (134)
2005-06 – 42 (135)
2006-07 – 39 (135)
2007-08 – 43 (135)
2008-09 135 32
2009-10 – 40 (135)
2010-11 – 24 (135)
2011-12 – 23 (135)
2012-13 – 13 (135)
2013-14 – 13 (135)
2014-15 – 9 (135)
2015-16 – 4 (135)
2016-17 – 11 (135)
2017-18 – 8 (135)
2018-19 – 2 (135)
2019-20 – 7 (133)
2020-21 – 3 (125)
2021-22 – 8 (156)
2022-23 – 5 (120)
2023-24 – 7 (93)
2024-25 – 6 (93)
2025-26 – 4 (92)

*Stats supplied by SFMS Ltd