Bath director of rugby Todd Blackadder says that the club will “rally behind” Freddie Burns after he potentially cost them victory against Toulouse in the Champions Cup.
The West Countrymen were 22-20 in arrears going into the final 10 minutes but had two opportunities to move back in front.
Both of them were spurned by the full-back when he missed a penalty in front of the posts before the 28-year-old, more embarrassingly, dropped the ball over the line having already started to celebrate.
Burns has since apologised on Twitter and Blackadder insists that the former Gloucester man will come back ready to perform.
“Freddie will be hurting, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “Now’s probably the time to rally behind him and support him.
“What’s done is done, you can’t take that back but what happens next is probably really important.
“He’ll take it on the chin but, as a group, this is where you need to support. We backed Freddie to perform today and he just made an error.
“That’s where often the greatest learning happens. He’ll be back on the horse for next week, ready to go (against Wasps), I’ve no doubt about that.”
Love this sport for the highs and the lows. Today was an ultimate low and a mistake I’ll learn from. I’ll continue to give my best as I always do. Lastly just apologies to the boys and the supporters for the mistake. I’ll bounce back… thanks for the support ??
— Freddie Burns (@FreddieBurns) October 13, 2018
Blackadder also believes that Burns’ error is symptomatic of the team at the moment after Tom Homer did something similar in the opening Premiership game of the campaign.
He added: “We did it against Bristol as well. We’re lacking that ruthless edge when you nail those points.
“I thought when the ball hit the post (from the penalty), obviously we could have taken the lead there, but we fought our way back into a position where we could have scored again.”