Will Butt admitted that his try for Bath Rugby against his future employers Exeter Chiefs might have been ruled out if the refereeing team had included a television match official.
Bath Rugby’s young side battled bravely against Exeter Chiefs here at Sandy Park on Saturday 21st February but were beaten 31-19 in PREM Rugby Cup Round 9 | Photo © Richard Briggs
Centre Butt skippered the Blue, Black & White at Sandy Park in the PREM Rugby Cup Round 9 tie – and he stretched to down the ball and hand his team an eighth-minute advantage.
But at Bath’s press conference following the Saturday 21st February match in Devon, he said: “I think I might’ve been a little bit lucky with that [try].
“If there’d been been a TMO I wonder if it might’ve been a little bit short, but there wasn’t so it stands.”
Butt said that the Blue, Black & White could be proud of their efforts against the Chiefs, despite the 31-19 setback that leaves them needing to beat Gloucester Rugby at The Rec on Saturday 28th February if they are to reach the semi-finals.
“We knew that they’d be a physical team, and they were,” said Butt.
“They’ve got a lot of big ball carriers. Zack Wimbush carried really well today. He was a bit of a handful for us.
“I think they kept the ball really well, and we were forced to defend for long periods of time.
“Something that we were proud of was that we stuck in those defensive sets.
“There was that one right before half-time, if felt like it went on forever, but we managed to win a turnover at the end and survive.
“So some big defensive sets today, some big defensive efforts. I hope we can be proud of that.
“We’ve set ourselves up now. We’ve got a game against Gloucester [in Round 10] at home, at The Rec, and an opportunity to put ourselves in the semi-finals. So it doesn’t get a lot better than that for us.
“It’s a must-win game. We win, we put ourselves in with a chance of going to a semi-final. We lose and definitely don’t. It’ll be a test.”
Butt acknowledged that the PREM Cup is a special competition for Bath’s youngsters.
The 26-year-old said: “For the group that you saw playing today, the PREM Cup is probably where we get most of our rugby, so it’s a special place because that’s our opportunity to put on the Bath shirt and show what we can do.”
But he admitted that the way Exeter play was instrumental in him penning a three-year contract at Sandy Park.
“They’re a team that have had a lot of success over the last 10 years,” he said.
“You look at the way that they’ve started this season, they’ve started incredibly well.
“I think you’d probably say they’re the most-improved team from last season to this one.
“They’ve got a pretty young squad and you see the way they attacked today, holding the ball for long phases as well, I think that’s an exciting way that they play the game.”
As for the situation of playing for Bath at Exeter and knowing he will soon become a Chief, Butt said: “I suppose it’s a little bit different for me – not something I’ve experienced before, but it was good, it was fine.”
