Owen Farrell apologised to his England team-mate Anthony Watson at the end of Saracens’ victory over Bath in the Premiership final for the early tackle that forced the full-back to leave the field with a head injury, but he faces being cited for the challenge.
The incident happened in the second minute as Watson made a break in his own half. Mako Vunipola tackled him low and Farrell went high, hitting him at the top of the chest before making impact with his head. The Bath head coach, Mike Ford, felt Farrell should have been sent off.
Watson played on for six minutes before going off for a head injury assessment and not returning. Farrell had by then scored his side’s first try on his way to the man-of-the-match award, but he faces an anxious few days to see whether he is cited for a challenge the referee Wayne Barnes opted not to review at the time.
“There was no intent,” said Farrell. “I saw Anthony at the end of the game and said sorry to him. I unfortunately caught him and you never want to see someone go off like that early in a game.
“Winning the final makes it a good season for us. We were driven on by what happened last year when we twice came up short. Bath are a good side and we knew they would throw everything at us, but we did our job and stood firm.”
It was Saracens’ fourth Premiership final in six seasons and the second time they have won the trophy. “People talk about culture and at Saracens we fight for everything,” said the England centre Brad Barritt. “We know that at our best we are unstoppable. We are best friends off the pitch and we galvanise each other.”
It was Bath’s second appearance in the Premiership final, having lost in 2004, but despite finishing the league campaign with seven straight victories they never led against Saracens and were 25-3 down at the break.
“I’ve got big concerns with Owen Farrell’s challenge and I’ve spoken to Wayne Barnes about that,” said Mike Ford. “It’s an illegal challenge, square on the nose, we lose one of our best players and [Farrell] goes on to win man of the match. I saw it as a red card. Barnes said he should have looked at it more closely through the television match official.
