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.
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."
Former Leinster players Ross Molony and Quinn Roux started for Bath in the second row.
Fighting back 😤
— Bristol Bears 🐻 (@BristolBears) January 4, 2025
💫 27-14 🐻 (65 mins)#SARvBRI | #BristolBears pic.twitter.com/AS1qUI9HyS
Meanwhile, Harry Byrne made his Premiership debut for Bristol against Saracens on Saturday.
The Ireland out-half joined the Bears last week from Leinster on a three-month loan deal as injury cover.
The 25-year-old four-cap international came on as a replacement in the 44th minute.
He kicked two conversions as Pat Lam's side lost 35-26 to Sarries, who play Munster in the Champions Cup on Saturday (5.30pm).
Watch Munster v Saracens in the Investec Champions Cup on Saturday 11 January from 5pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Listen to La Rochelle v Leinster on Sunday Sport (3.15pm) on RTÉ Radio 1. Follow live blogs on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
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