Ollie Lawrence apologises for incident with England teammate

Ollie Lawrence has apologised for his role in an incident that led to his England team-mate Alex Mitchell being sin binned in Bath’s defeat at Northampton on Sunday.

Lawrence and Mitchell clashed heads when the Saints scrum-half was making a tackle late in the encounter at Franklin’s Gardens, which was edged 35-34 by the home side.

Bath centre Lawrence crumbled to the ground and after reviewing the collision, referee Anthony Woodthorpe showed Mitchell a yellow card. Lawrence then appeared to smile at the decision.

Champions Cup best SA XV not in SA teams | RPTV

Robbie Fleck and Nick Mallett pick their best South African XV playing in the Champions Cup, but not in South African teams. Watch the full episode on RugbyPass TV

Watch now

Champions Cup best SA XV not in SA teams | RPTV

Robbie Fleck and Nick Mallett pick their best South African XV playing in the Champions Cup, but not in South African teams. Watch the full episode on RugbyPass TV

Watch now

Following accusations that he had over-reacted to the clash of heads, Lawrence used his X account to express his remorse.

“Wasn’t to be today… Credit to Saints 👏. Big shift from the boys second half. We’ll take the 2 & move on…” he said.

“Ps – Apologies if my actions today offended anyone. On review, I understand the frustration voiced! I’ll be better 🫶”

Johann van Graan hailed Bath’s narrow loss to Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens as a showcase for the Gallagher Premiership.

Despite trailing 19-0, Bath scored five tries to Northampton’s four, with Joe Cokanasiga crossing twice and Orlando Bailey, Will Stuart, and Max Ojomoh also scoring.

Finn Russell added three conversions and a penalty. Northampton secured victory with a last-minute Fin Smith penalty, alongside tries from George Hendy, Fraser Dingwall, James Ramm, and Josh Kemeny. Bath earned two points, extending their lead at the top of the table to six points.

“It was a phenomenal game and certainly an emotional roller-coaster, but we’ll just have to take our two points and move on,” Bath director of rugby Johann van Graan said.

“Saints had so much speed and accuracy early on and converted well in that opening 20 minutes. but then our power got us back into the game.

“The guys are obviously gutted as they fought so hard, but we showed we are tough to beat and if we go anywhere in the world we’ll fight all the way,” said van Graan.