Bath Rugby came agonisingly close to a first-ever Premiership title as they fell 25 – 21 to the Northampton Saints at Twickenham.
Losing prop Beno Obano to a red card in the 21st minute, Bath were mightily impressive for the next sixty minutes.
Leading with six minutes to play, Bath looked destined to pull off the upset. That was, of course, until Saints replacement George Hendy burst through the defensive line before linking up with Alex Mitchell, who scampered over for the match-winner.
Despite being a player down, Bath roundly dominated the scrum with Springbok prop Thomas du Toit to the fore.
Circling back to Obano’s card, the loosehead left referee Christophe Ridley with no choice but to brandish him with a red.
Looking to make a dominant tackle on Northampton’s powerful backrow Juarano Augustus, Obano got his height completely wrong and made direct contact with the South African’s chin.
🟥 Red card for Beno Obano after 21 minutes pic.twitter.com/RNOmzdLdGc
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) June 8, 2024
Given the 29-year-old Obano’s position as a front row forward, Bath were forced to make a decision about to take off so they could bring on back up loosehead Juan Schoeman.
In the end it would be explosive backrow Alfie Barbeary who had to make way in what would be a double hit for Bath.
"I'd imagine 20 minutes in people would have written us off"
Finn Russell talks of his pride over Bath's performance pic.twitter.com/KEG3gBzY7D
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) June 8, 2024
In this episode of Walk the Talk, Jim Hamilton chats with double World Cup winner Damian de Allende about all things Springbok rugby, including RWC2023 and the upcoming Ireland series. Watch now for free on RugbyPass TV
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