Bristol face-off a long time coming for lock Attwood
Dave Attwood has been waiting a very long time to do battle with his home-town club. The last time Bristol were in the Premiership – 2016/17 – they faced Bath Rugby four times in the league and European Challenge Cup, but due to injury the lock who came through their ranks missed every one of those derbies. Fast forward two seasons and the West Country derby is happening on day one – Friday night at Ashton Gate – as a curtain-raiser for the new campaign. It will be a record home crowd for Bristol, who have already sold more than 22,000 tickets, and their first shot at a top-flight scalp since running away with the Championship last season. Fit and firing again, Attwood should be one of the first names on the Bath teamsheet and, with his family likely to be watching from the stands, it is a very exciting opener for him. “Of all the fixtures in the league that’s probably the most special one to me,” he said. “Bristol is the club I grew up in as a child; playing for the junior section and supporting them. “Obviously the game turns professional and your allegiances are to the bonds you make with the guys stood beside you. “It was very unfortunate that we played them four times the last time they were in the Premiership and I didn’t manage to feature in any of the games. “I would very much like to see them be successful in this Premiership campaign and stay in the top flight.” Attwood went to the Ridings school in Winterbourne, and also played for amateur club Dings Crusaders before blossoming into a Premiership powerhouse. Having returned from a successful loan move to Toulon fullyrecovered from a chronic knee cartillage issue, he has been looking fit, sharp and thoroughly effective in pre-season. The Chronicle understands he was very close to making a permanent move to the South of France in the summer before it was announced that he would play out the third and final year of his contract at the Rec. Attwood said: “It’s obviously my third and final year of this contract for sure, but I spoke to the club before I went to Toulon about extending my contract here in Bath. “I’ve been here for a long time. This club is important to me and the opportunity to extend that is absolutely not something I would overlook in the slightest. “But this is a professional game and it takes two people to tango and if Bath don’t see space for me next year then I’ll look elsewhere, and if Toulon were interested, or someone else was interested, that’s a conversation to have at that point. “At the minute, my focus is here in Bath and if they want to talk about extending my contract then I can say I tried to start that conversation back in February.” Attwood is keeping his powder dry in terms of how he thinks Bath will fare this season; having beaten Edinburgh and Scarlets in warmup matches. The 31-year-old added: “There are seasons where I’ve felt like we’ve had all the makings of being title contenders and we’ve finished down the bottom half of the table, and years where I’ve thought I’m not sure about the squad this year and, actually, we’ve crushed it. “I will reserve judgment until we’ve played a few games.”