Freddie Burns has shown why you must never showboat before scoring a try, when his embarrassing blunder cost Bath victory against Toulouse on Sunday morning (NZ time).
With the French rugby club leading 22-20 in the 75th minute of their Champions Cup clash, Burns ran over the line to score a go-ahead try, but as he began celebrating, the ball was poked out of his hand by Maxime Medard.
He was so confident of scoring that he kissed and patted the Bath badge on his jersey, and smiled as he ran into the in-goal area towards the posts.
But the ball was knocked away and a tearful Burns collapsed to the ground, face buried in the pitch.
The costly blunder came a minute after the fullback missed a penalty goal from in front of the posts.
The error proved costly, as Toulouse held on for victory, with Bath coach Todd Blackadder replacing Burns immediately after his mistake.
The five-time England international took to Twitter after the match to apologise to Bath fans.
"Love this sport for the highs and the lows. Today was an ultimate low and a mistake I'll learn from," Burns tweeted.
"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."
Captain Rhys Priestland blasted his teammates for even thinking they could celebrate tries early.
"We've got far bigger issues than Freddie dropping the ball or missing that kick," he said.
"It's something for us to talk about, celebrating before scoring tries. Freddie hasn't cost us the game - we weren't good enough.
"But as a squad, I can't believe we do celebrate before we put the ball down. It's not the first time.
"I honestly don't know what boys think they're going to achieve by doing it. For me, that's non-negotiable - we can't do it again."
Suffice to say Burns won't make the same mistake again.
Newshub.
