Lawes 'livid' and 'over the moon' after helping Saints to claim Premiership crown

The black, green and gold eventually got the job done as they secured a 25-21 win at Twickenham, but they were made to work hard for it by a Bath team who had lost Beno Obano to a red card after just 20 minutes.

Alex Mitchell popped up six minutes from time to score the winning try, finishing off an effort made by some George Hendy magic.

It meant Lawes was able to lift the Premiership trophy for the second time, on his final appearance for Saints before he departs for Brive this summer.

And though the club legend was far from happy with the performance, he was delighted with the outcome.

Lawes said: "I'm actually still livid from the game: I don't think we could have played worse.

"But what a way to go out - I'm over the moon.

"I couldn't have asked for more.

"I think we've deserved it throughout the season.

"Seeing all these lads grow up over the past few seasons, especially this year, has been really special.

"I owe an awful lot to the club and it's always my pleasure, my honour to give everything I can out on the pitch and I'm happy I could do that today."

He added: "This is huge for me.

"I couldn't have thought of a better way to go out.

"I know we didn't go all the way in Europe but the amount of growth we've had this season has been second to none.

"This is definitely the most talented, high-potential team I've ever been in at Saints."

Lawes felt the red card actually had a detrimental effect for Saints, who had flown into a 15-3 lead before finding themselves 21-18 down late on.

He said: "I've been on both ends of it where you receive a red card and it actually galvanises you a bit. You've got nothing to lose and there's no pressure.

"Then, all of a sudden, all of the pressure is piled on to the team with 15 and I thought we really felt that today.

"We weren't firing on all cylinders and we didn't get our game on the pitch, but we did enough to win and that's what matters."

Bath produced a huge display that almost helped them take the title.

And Lawes said: "Bath were unbelievable.

"Finn Russell is such a good player and he was unbelievable.

"Bath are a great team and they really put us under a lot of pressure, but I'm just ecstatic."