England: Ollie Lawrence denies ‘cheating’ accusations after alleged simulation against Northampton
Ollie Lawrence in action for Bath against Northampton Saints in the Premiership 2024.
England and Bath centre Ollie Lawrence has denied he cheated to get Alex Mitchell sin-binned in his side’s Premiership clash with Northampton Saints this past weekend, but did admit it “wasn’t bad enough” to go down like he did.
The centre collided with the Northampton scrum-half towards the latter stages of the game, which resulted in Mitchell being sent to the sin-bin and Finn Russell slotting a penalty to give Bath the lead with less than three minutes to go.
Despite this, a Sam Underhill penalty offence in the 80th minute gifted the Saints a reprieve as Fin Smith knocked over a three-pointer of his own to secure the victory for his side.
After the game, however, Lawrence was caught in the middle of a social media storm as fans lashed out at his actions.
“I don’t think it was cheating”
Posting on his personal TikTok account, the Bath back gave an honest assessment of the incident, saying he felt it “wasn’t bad enough” to go down “in the way he did”.
“It wasn’t bad enough to go down in the way that I did,” Lawrence said. “I probably could have carried on and let the ref to pull it back afterwards; but in the moment I felt like I was hit head-on-head.”
He added: “I was completely entitled to go down. I didn’t cheat the system or dive. By the letter of the law, if there’s a head collision you’re allowed to go down and the ref can review it.”
But, he later went on to defend himself, saying he didn’t think he was cheating to get Mitchell sent to the sin-bin.
“I don’t think I was cheating. People say I brought the game into disrepute, but I would argue I didn’t. I went by the letter of the law,” he said.
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“But, I apologise for that because kids look up to us and I don’t want people to think that I’m a cheat or a diver.”
Smile reaction is natural
Following the incident, which came moments after he copped a penalty for a shoulder charge on George Hendy which saw the Northampton man taken off, Lawrence was seen smiling on the big screen.
That again caused backlash on social media, but Lawrence clarified that this is something he’s done his whole career.
“In terms of my reactions during the game, I smile after I make a mistake,” Lawrence said.
He added: “I’ve done it my whole career, it’s my way of getting over things and moving on. That’s just me cracking on and getting on with the next thing.”
