Ben Youngs has tried to spare Santiago Carreras the blame as Bath failed to take advantage of pressure in the final moments of the PREM semi-final, where Bath were held up in the final play and lost 27-26 to the Exeter Chiefs.
Bath had been dominant in the first half and led the game 26-10. They were bossing the set-piece and dominating physically from some of their top carriers. This has been a huge area of Bath’s game this season and was evident just last week as Thomas Du Toit scored three tries in their final regular-season game. It was also a final play pick and go try that helped them progress past Northampton Saints in the Champions Cup.
Carreras got a lot of scrutiny in the media for not going for a drop goal in the final moments, but Ben Youngs and Dan Cole on the For Love of Rugby Podcast gave a different perspective.
Was Carreras solely to blame?
Youngs and Cole gave a great perspective on the situation as two players who are only one year out of the professional game and made it to the PREM final just last year. Youngs is the most capped England international of all time, and as a scrum-half was very quick to stick up for the Argentinian.
“You can look at lots of different things. Why did they not score a single point in the second half?” said Youngs.
While the game didn’t go Bath’s way in the second half, they should have done better in the second half in controlling and finishing out the game.
Ultimately in a team game, others will have made decision-making mistakes which could have cost Bath the game just as much, but they won’t be remembered like not taking the drop-goal.
Youngs added, “You’ve got a chance to win it, Carreras is set up to go for a drop goal at the end of the game. Everyone looks at that and says, why’s he not taking that?”
Dan Cole later added that it looked like Carreras was going to be the fall guy for this mistake.
Who should have done better?
“It’s not entirely his (Carreras’) fault. He is exactly where he needs to be, which is in behind the pod of forwards in front of the sticks.” Youngs ranted on further and with his experience coming in the number nine shirt put some blame on the substitute scrum-half Bernard van der Linde.
“Van der Linde, the 9, what are you doing?” The former scrum-half exclaimed.
Youngs went on to say, “You can’t score a drop goal if the ball’s not in your hands. Get him the ball! Your job as a nine is like a head on a swivel, got to be checking where he is, looking for momentum. The forwards are doing their job. They don’t even have to worry about it.”
The podcasting duo also put the blame on the coaching staff at Bath. They couldn’t understand why, with five minutes remaining and Finn Russell already out, they would take off Ben Spencer, who is an experienced head and could have led the situation better.
The pair commented that Carreras looked fuming at the end of the game and had every right to be with the men in front of him.
