Premier League Arrows: Josh Rock blames bathroom soap for Michael van Gerwen’s defeat

Josh Rock blamed the mistakes he made during last week’s 6-2 Premier League defeat by Michael van Gerwen in Antwerp on the soap he used in the bathroom before taking to the stage.

The 24-year-old was seen wiping his hands on his pants several times and licking his fingers at one point during the quarter-final match.

Rock, from Northern Ireland, believes his inability to hold arrows correctly was caused by soap, and is now seeking to prevent this from happening to him at future events by packing his own chalk and wax.

He said: “I went to the toilet just before I went on stage, and obviously you wash your hands after you go to the toilet, so I put soap on my hands and the next minute I was there, and I was like, ‘This is not going to go well.'”

“I couldn’t feel it at all. Now we have a backup plan, I have a little chalk and wax in the box from now on.”

“I didn’t have to use it this week at the Players Championship, it was good, but it must have been the soap I used.

“That was the first time it had happened. This must have been the soap I used in the toilet in Antwerp, and it obviously took all the oils off my finger and I completely lost control of it.”