'The 'huge part of the game' Ben Spencer wants to keep improving

As a long-time teammate of Owen Farrell at Saracens, Ben Spencer couldn’t have asked for a better role model in terms of managing the referee.

Every once in a while Farrell gets the balance wrong, where the art of persuasion turns into petulance, but generally speaking, the England and Lions star is held up as an example of someone who thrives in this particular facet of the game.

Spencer is more quietly-spoken and less in-your-face than his fellow notherner, but in recent matches the 14-cap international appears to have engaged more frequently with the match officials, and more forcibly.

Last Friday’s thrashing of Edinburgh, which secured Bath a home Round of 16 Investec Champions Cup tie against his former club Saracens, was a case in point.

In the 13th minute, with Bath playing advantage after being awarded a scrum penalty, Finn Russell sent a pinpoint crossfield kick over to the far touchline, which was met by Edinburgh’s Ross Thompson on one side and by Joe Cokanasiga on the other, leading to an injury to the visitors’ fly-half.

Making an instant decision, Italian referee Gianluca Gnecchi overturned the penalty for foul play, believing that Cokanasiga had taken Thompson out in the air. It was a decision that left Spencer, and the crowd, dumbfounded, but the 33-year-old kept his cool and got his point across in a measured way.

During the exchange between the player and the referee, the TMO was working in the background to determine if the right call had been made. “Ben, there is a process, just let me do it please,” Gnechhi said to Spencer, who replied, ‘yeah, no worries.'” Moments later, the TMO confirmed Cokanasiga was in the clear.

That is just one of many examples of where Spencer is proving his worth to the blue, black and whites as a leader, as well as providing assists for tries and scoring tries himself and being a prolific kicker of the ball off both feet.

“It’s a massive part of the game, speaking to referees and how you deal with them, and I think if you can get a decent relationship with those guys, it puts you in good stead throughout the game. It is something that I have tried to get better at over the last few years,” he told RugbyPass.

“I think it is not just making sure you have a good relationship with him, but making sure you don’t get on the wrong side of him, and I think that is something that I have tried to do and not step over the line too much in terms of how much you push the referee.”

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One string of his bow that rarely gets used these days is goal-kicking. With Finn Russell and Santi Carreras being 80%-plus kickers, there is no need for Spencer to step up to the tee.

While Spencer remains willing to take on the job if ever needed, he believes letting others take shots at goal has helped him as a captain, a role that he has performed over 50 times for Bath in the PREM alone.

“It’s not something that I miss too much. It allows me to focus on other areas of my game, whether it be the leadership aspect, maybe speaking to the boys when Finn is kicking at goal or speaking to the ref, or whatever it may be,” he added.

“Obviously, Finn and Santi are world-class goalkickers. If the opportunity arises to goal kick, I’ll take it, but at the minute I am letting them take the reins with that.”