Before he had even touched the ball for Bath Rugby, it was clear that new signing Santi Carreras is a fans’ favourite.
Argentina star Santi Carreras made his Bath Rugby debut when coming off the bench in the match against his old club Gloucester Rugby at The Rec on Saturday 11th October | Photo © Richard Briggs
The poster boy of Argentine rugby came off the bench in the 60th minute of the Gallagher PREM Round 3 clash with his old club Gloucester Rugby at The Rec on Saturday 11th October – and received an amazing reception from home supporters.
The versatile back arrived on the pitch to the sort of enormous cheers usually reserved for a returning hero, not someone making his debut. The 27-year-old Los Pumas star is clearly already a much-loved and much-respected member of the Blue, Black & White’s squad.
At Johann van Graan’s post-match press conference, the Echo raised the matter of the reception afforded to Carreras by fans when he entered the fray. And the Bath head of rugby’s immediate response was to wear his widest smile of the session.
Van Graan said: “He’s such a lovely man. He’s going to fit in so well and I think the crowd immediately warmed up to him.
“He’s only been here a week but he’s absolutely loved it. I think he’s world class.
“He’ll make us better and if you look at the players we’ve signed over the last two years, we’ve signed a small amount of players to add into the group, but it’s all players that will make a difference. And now he can play multiple positions.
“We’ve signed guys who can play multiple positions, and I think he’ll become a crowd favourite.
“He’s made it very clear from the start it’s not about him, he’ll fit in wherever he’s needed. Great to have him on board.”
Another fans’ favourite is back row Alfie Barbeary, who also came off the bench in the 38-17 win over the Cherry & Whites. The 25-year-old made a couple of errors but still earned praise from van Graan.
“The message from the [coaches’] box was straight away ‘Alf, put it behind you’. Sometimes you just get one of those moments and he’ll certainly work on it in the week,” said van Graan.
“But we’ve got his back and it’s not how much you fall it’s how much you stand up and I thought his body language, he was frustrated with it. But we’ve all got his back and it’s the next job and I thought he did that well.”
