On road as early bath cools Burns’ jets

red card shown to fly-half Freddie Burns in the 29-13 Aviva Premiership win over bottom club Worcester.

Burns was sent off for a dangerous tackle during his first start for Bath after initially being shown a yellow card for up-ending Worcester wing Josh Adams in the 63rd minute.

Referee Luke Pearce then produced red after taking another look at replays with TV match official Graham Hughes.

Blackadder thought there was “nothing intentional” about Burns’s tip-tackle but said: “It’s definitely a red card. No excuses or complaints from us. As soon as a player’s legs get above the parallel, it’s in the hands of the referee. The red card was deserved.”

With stand-off Rhys Priestland nurs- ing an inflamed patella tendon, Blackadder now finds himself short of flyhalves for the European Champions Cup campaign which kicks off next Saturday at home to Italian side Benetton Treviso, with former Ebbw Vale player Josh Lewis ready to step up.

Centre Ben Tapuai was one of Bath’s try scorers along with Aled Brew (two) and Jonathan Joseph, and Burns had added three conversions before replacement Josh Lewis kicked a late penalty.

Worcester’s points came from tries by wing Dean Hammond and fly-half Jamie Shillcock, who kicked a penalty and conversion.

Jonny May is the best left wing in England, according to Leicester head coach Matt O’Connor.

May scored his sixth try of the campaign in the Tigers’ 28-27 win over London Irish, with Nick Malouf and Will Evans also crossing.

It meant Leicester recorded their fourth straight Aviva Premiership win, but Irish, without a victory since the opening day, did earn a losing bonus point thanks to tries from Blair Cowan, David Paice and Alex Lewington.

But it was man-of-the-match May who put in another sparkling performance and O’Connor said he would have no doubts about selecting him for England if he were in Eddie Jones’ shoes.

“I think he’s easily the best finisher and best left winger in England and I would certainly pick him but it’s not my decision,” he said. Bath fly-half Freddie Burns is shown the red card in win over Worcester