“Maybe falling the way I did wasn’t bad enough. Perhaps if the referee had thought it was a foul, he could have allowed the play to go ahead and call it off. But at that moment, poor judgment or not, I got hit in the head. It felt like I fell.
“I deserved it. I didn’t cheat the system. I didn’t dive. By the letter of the law and for our own safety, if there is a head collision, we are allowed to go down and the referee will judge. We can review.”
Northampton won 35-34 against the Premier League leaders through a Finn Smith penalty with the last kick of the game.
Lawrence, 25, was not evaluated for head injuries because the crash did not merit medical intervention, according to data collected on the sideline.
“I don’t think I cheated,” he added.
“People say I brought the game into disrepute. I would like to argue that I didn’t. I just followed the terms of the law. But I apologize because at the end of the day, there are a lot of kids who look up to us as players. Here’s the thing, I don’t want people to think I’m a scammer or a diver.
“I want people to enjoy the game and play in the right spirit. So, as I said, I apologize for my actions in that moment. I will leave it to the referee to decide whether there will be head contact in the future.”
Lawrence was seen smiling in the aftermath of team-mate Finn Russell kicking a penalty amid boos from the Franklins Gardens crowd.
He said, “If you look at my reaction during the game, I tend to laugh after I make a mistake.”
“It’s something I’ve done my whole career. It’s just my way of getting over it and moving on to the next thing. There wasn’t a wry smile or a wink or anything that people thought they saw.
“It’s just me moving on to the next thing, maybe talking to the next person on the field next to me and joking around at some point, because at the end of the day, you just get over it and move on to the next thing. “
