Lawrence denies cheating to get England rugby team-mate Mitchell sin-binned / Photo: Glyn KIRK - AFP
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Lawrence denies cheating to get England rugby team-mate Mitchell sin-binned
Ollie Lawrence said on Friday there was no cheating on his part following an incident that led to fellow England back Alex Mitchell receiving a yellow card during Bath's defeat by champions Northampton in the Premiership.
Bath and England centre Lawrence sparked a furious row on social media after he slumped to the ground following a clash of heads with scrum-half Mitchell at Franklin's Gardens on Sunday in a match Northampton edged 35-34.
Anthony Mitchell, the match referee, reviewed the incident and showed half-back Mitchell a yellow card, drawing a smile from Lawrence and an angry online response from fans.
Lawrence apologised at the time on social media in case "my actions today offended anyone", but he was adamant he did not dive.
"We collided head on head," he said on TikTok.
"It wasn't bad enough probably for me to go down in the way that I did."
The 25-year-old added: "I probably could have carried on running and allowed the ref to pull it back afterwards if he thought there was foul play.
"But in that moment, whether my judgement was clouded or not, I felt like it was head on head so I went down. I was completely entitled to. I didn't cheat the system, I didn't dive.
"For our own safety, if there's a head collision you're allowed to go down and the ref can review it.
"A lot of fans weren't happy with that, that's fair enough and I understand your perspective.
"I apologised online and I said if you took offence to what I did then I am sorry, but I didn't cheat, which is what a lot of people thought I was doing, and I didn't dive.
"People said I brought the game into disrepute and I'd argue that I didn't, I just went by the letter of the law."
As for the smile that also annoyed home fans at Northampton, as well as rugby supporters elsewhere, Lawrence said: "In terms of my reaction, I do smile after I make a mistake. It's something I've done my whole career. It's just my way of getting over it.
"There was no wry smile, or a wink, or whatever people think they saw. That's just me cracking on."
Both Lawrence and Mitchell could find themselves on the same side when England coach Steve Borthwick names his squad for the upcoming Six Nations Championship on Tuesday.
D.Mertens--JdB
