Beno Obano: ‘It genuinely felt like grief’

Beno Obano says he spent most of the summer being down-in-the-dumps, dwelling on being sent off in the Gallagher Premiership final.

The June showpiece was only 22 minutes old when after lengthy consultation with the TMO, referee Christophe Ridley reached inside his pocket and produced a red card for a high shot on Juarno Augustus.

14-man Bath fought valiantly in Obano’s absence, while the prop cut a disconsolate figure on the sidelines, but ended up losing 21-25.

Obano found one of the biggest disappointments of his career hard to shake off, but has now put that behind him to play some superb rugby, including a brace of pick-and-go tries in Bath’s huge West Country derby win against Gloucester last Saturday.

“It’s weird because it genuinely felt like grief, I had quite a lot of grief over the summer. But I guess now when other things happen or tough things happen, and they are just not as bad as that, you are able to deal with them a lot easier. You basically scar over and build mental callouses and become stronger as a result," the England international said.

“I don’t think that is the toughest thing that is ever going to happen to me in my life. I was pretty miserable for a long time but now I am all good, We’ve got a new season, new things to build to, and stuff to try and win.”

For Bath, that means winning the Premiership above all else.

The most-dominant club of the amateur era hasn’t been crowned champions since 1996 but they started the current campaign as one of the favourites.

However, after the first four rounds the feeling that this season would be too tough to call seems to be bearing out.

Bath are one of five teams in the 10-team competition to have a won three, lost one record and are third in the table.

“We have definitely got the talent in the team to compete with anybody, I think. It is just a matter of doing it and executing it at the highest level, consistently," said Obano, who turns 30 next Friday.

Bath’s next challenge is Harlequins away, in Saturday's tea-time fixture.

“I always enjoy playing in London, it is home for me. So every time I get to go back to London a lot of people want to come to the game and stuff," he said.

“Quins are tough. I don’t think we have ever had an easy game at the Stoop, or against Quins in general, for as long as I have played.

“It is a matter of us executing. We spend our time focusing on other teams, we just focus on what we can do better and when we do that I don’t know who can beat us when we do our stuff well.”