Cam Redpath compared Bath from teammate Santi Carreras to a fan of French soccer star Paul Pogba, who at his peak was known as one of the most talented midfielders of his generation.
Carreras endured a disappointing first season at Bath in 2025/26, having joined from West Country rivals Gloucester, but started the new campaign with a bang last Friday, running in the contender’s try of the season in Bath’s opening night win against Harlequins.
Defends two na-na inside his own 22, silky skillful Cougars Zvezda decided to kick out and thus intercept Tyrone Green’s pass instead of risking knocking him down and receiving a certain yellow card.
He then lifted the ball out of the air with one hand, after managing to stay in the game, before racing away to score a try that has since been viewed 900,000 times on TNT Sports’ X account.
“I think it was Tuesday last week, he tried it in training, and it didn’t work. I was sitting next to him in meetings and he said, ‘did you see I tried that?’ and I said, ‘yeah, yeah, that’s never going to work’, and then he did it in the game and I just remember him jumping up and saying Red, he found Red!’
“Afterwards I joked to Santi: ‘imagine putting your leg out and getting lost in the nonsense’? You’d look like an idiot. But he wasn’t fooled and scored. There aren’t many other people who could do that, maybe one or two.”
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Redpath reckons the Carreras are even at the top Scotland teammate Finn Russell for keeping his cool.
“He’s the most fluid rugby player I’ve ever met, he’s so smooth in everything he does. He reminds me of Paul Pogba when he was playing football back in the day, everything seems slowed down. He’s so relaxed.”
“Finn is fluid, but he thinks a lot more about what he’s doing. He’s a lot more technical and a lot of his stuff is a lot more thought out before he does it. Finn is a step ahead of everyone else; Santi is very fluid. That’s the best way I can describe the two of them.”
Redpath, 26, admits there is never a dull moment when two of the most naturally gifted playmakers in world rugby are together.
“Sometimes they’re brilliant. Sometimes when it gets a little loose, it can be difficult,” he said.
“When Santi comes back from Argentina camp, his English is a little worse, he makes the wrong calls in training. But no, they’re both brilliant, they’re both great guys, and they’re both so competitive, they’re fun to play with.
“And obviously, I don’t need to talk about their talent; they’re both brilliantly talented players. Sometimes in training it’s quite impressive what you see.”
On Friday night, Bath will play Exeter for the first time since their heartbreaking 27-26 play-off defeat to Bosses last June.
Carreras has become the go-to guy for that defeat and will no doubt be looking to make amends.
Directing play in the dying seconds in the shadows of the Chiefs’ positions, the full-back/half-back was perfectly placed to fire Bath into a third successive Twickenham final. But, instead, the forwards continued to pick and go and were denied on the try-line after 39 phases.
At that point, Carreras’ reputation was more Carlton Palmer than Paul Pogba.
“I’ve seen a lot of articles saying Santi should have kicked, or we should have passed the ball or whatever,” Redpath said.
“As defenders we have to help the forwards a bit, we probably let them do too much.
“But when you’re on the pitch and you’ve had something go your way so many times before – Thomas (du Toit) has been there for the last three years as one of our top try scorers, whether it’s him or anybody, it’s hard to argue with that.
“I would support our forwards, next time they would definitely achieve it, and if we added to the backs, we would definitely achieve it too.
“It’s not down to one person, it’s a team effort, and that’s what it is. Exeter did a brilliant job. We were in that game and probably shouldn’t have put ourselves in that position. It’s over now, we’re over it.”
While Bath came up just short in the PREM, also bowing out of the Champions Cup and PREM Rugby Cup in the semi-finals, Redpath says he personally fell far short of his high standards.
Overlooked for this year’s Six Nations and Nations Championship, the last of Redpath’s 15 games for Scotland came over a year ago, in a shock defeat to Fiji.
And, for the most part, Bath’s preferred starting midfield was Max Ojomoh and Ollie Lawrence, with Redpath often leaving the center to cover and the scrum-half on the bench.
As one of four centers entering the final year of his contract at Bath, where he came from Sale In 2020, Redpath knows he has to play well to not only regain his place in Scotland, but also a new deal with the blue, black and whites.
“I would love to come back,” he said of his ambitions in Scotland.
“At times in your career you might have to look at yourself and think, maybe there’s something I’m not doing, and I don’t think I did enough, I probably didn’t play well enough last season, so unfortunately I have to take it on the chin, and I’m excited to get into it.
“International rugby is very different to Premiership rugby, and I feel like I’ve always put my hand out there when I’ve played international rugby and I’d do anything to get the chance again,” he continued.
“I’d like to hope to hear something (from Gregor Townsend) in the next few months. If not, I’m doing something wrong and not playing well enough. That’s my responsibility.”
As well as being good at taking the ball to the line, Redpath is defensively solid in contact despite his relatively slender frame. A nuisance to opposing carriers with his ability to aggressively strip the ball in the match, and he also likes to go over the ball at the breakdown.
“I’ve had a bit of a misunderstanding over the last 18 months and it’s probably held me back a bit in certain aspects,” he revealed.
“I was still fine to play, but I probably underestimated how much it was holding me back in my jack game.
“That’s something I really enjoy getting involved in, the little things. It doesn’t bother me sometimes. When it’s wet and awful, sometimes as a center you have to do the dirty work. It helps me get into the game.
“I think in certain parts of my game last year I was watching the game of rugby instead of playing it, and I’ve never been one to just sit back and watch, I’m too competitive.”
One thing the Narbonne native Redpath is happy to be patient about is his contract situation.
With Redpath, Ojomoh, Lawrence and Welsh international Louie Hennessey all out of contract in the summer, the situation could prove as volatile as Carreras on the ball.
“It’s probably too early to think about contracts at this point. I probably have to play better than last season. I’d rather focus on playing well.”
