Todd Blackadder has urged Freddie Burns to “get back on the horse” on Saturday after his calamitous errors, insisting he has no problem throwing the Bath fly-half into the line of fire against Wasps.
Burns’s clangers – celebrating a try too early and being caught unawares before dotting the ball down soon after missing a straightforward penalty – cost Bath victory against Toulouse and leaves them up against it in their Champions Cup pool.
Jeremy Guscott called Burns’ failure to score the try “unforgiveable” and Sir Clive Woodward said he was behaving as if playing for the “Under-13 Bs”.
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Blackadder, the Bath director of rugby, said. “I think Freddie will thrive. Like anything you have to front up. The really good thing about his character is that if we had had a game on Sunday he would have played.
“The main thing is just getting on the horse. I won’t have any problems starting him against Wasps at all. We’ve got every confidence in Freddie that he’ll do the job, he’s a tough fellow. It’s really obvious to see the mistake but it won’t happen again. The outcry and the backlash is probably enough to sober anyone up.”
Meanwhile, Premiership Rugby has stepped up its efforts to sell a minority stake to a “serious global player” after a number of expressions of interest followed CVC’s failed bid of £275m for a controlling share last month. Premiership Rugby is also considering a loan but revealed acquiring a strategic partner was more preferable. “It’s highly likely, but we’ve got to get into the nuts and bolts over the next few weeks,” said the Premiership Rugby chief executive, Mark McCafferty. “I don’t think anyone’s going to have an easy time getting through final agreement because there’s a lot of interest.”