Bath’s youth inspires veteran Attwood
“I’ve got boots older than some of these guys!” bellows 6 foot 5 second rower Dave Attwood, once again training at Farleigh House as he makes his return to a Bath Rugby side brimming with youth.
“It feels like I’ve been away a long time, I feel like a lot of the guys who were at our school training camps are now in the first team!”
After the Blue, Black and White’s last-place finish in the club’s most abysmal season since rugby union turned professional in 1995, the Bath faithful could perhaps do with a glimmer of hope looking forward, and it is undeniable that the club’s growing youthful core was the brightest light in a very dark year.
The emergence of Orlando Bailey, 20, Ewan Richards, 19, Max Ojomoh, 21, Tom de Glanville, 22, and Miles Reid, 23, who have now all been invited to train with England although without winning a cap yet, are reasons for optimism.
The 35-year-old is excited at the prospect of what’s to come for the club.
“There’s so much raw talent, but also they’re desperate to learn and happy to question,” Attwood explained. “I had a conversation with Ewan (Richards) yesterday, where he questioned me on my foot patterning in the scrum. That made me think ‘why do I do that?’”
“In my head I feel like it’s the right thing to do, but I’m just as fallible as anyone else. His quest to understand means that he wants to get better, and that makes me better. It’s quite exciting from my point of view that those guys want to improve.
“Physically everyone’s going to get stronger in their time at the gym but it’s their understanding of how to play the game that is where the bar gets raised.”
The arrivals of new head of rugby Johann van Graan and defensive expert JP Ferreira from Munster also signal a new start.
Attwood, who is re-joining the Blue, Black and White after a threeyear stint at West derby rivals Bristol Bears which saw him win the European Challenge Cup and finish top of the Gallagher Premiership at the end of the 2020/21 regular season. The tight-head lock spoke on the relative ease of returning to Bath despite their struggles over the last 12 months.
“Bath’s always been home for me, it was a very easy transition to make,” he said. “When things didn’t work out with the changes to the salary cap and all the political stuff over at Bristol it was a very easy decision to start the conversation over here. Ultimately my conversations with Johann made me feel like the club was gonna be moving in a much better direction than it finished off last season. I still live here, my kids go to school here.”
With the glory days of the 90s well behind them, many have taken aim at the Blue, Black and White for a lack of on-field success. Attwood directed criticism at the club’s culture following his departure in 2019.
“Culturally the oldschoolness is not necessarily the playing squad, the city of Bath has a memory that identifies with (Jeremy) Guscott and (Nigel) Redman. There’s a disassociation between what was going on back then and what’s going on now, so it’s very frustrating as a current player sitting in the stands and listening to fans talk about that kind of rugby and how we should be doing more of that when it’s a different game now.”
Attwood added that the club culture has dramatically shifted over the past year, due to the impact of Ed Griffiths as chairman for the latter stages of last season. The former Saracens figurehead’s shocking departure from the Rec in May certainly raised some eyebrows, but it was Griffiths who helped bring 24-cap international Attwood ‘home.’
“It seemed like the impact he [Griffiths] had meant that the players were enjoying the dressing room, which was a real problem at Bath for a while. The lads were enjoying it, spending a bit more time together, the cliques dissolved and people were working together in a much more collaborative manner and that made me think that this club’s moving in the right direction.”
The England international returns to Bath as a senior member of the squad at 35 years old, and a key component in enforcing the new leadership of Van Graan.
“I can come in with a fresh face and challenge some of the orthodox approaches guys are taking and feel like I’ve got the confidence to do that. Sometimes new guys are concerned about upsetting the status quo, but I think everyone’s quite happy to agree the status quo from where Bath finished last season wasn’t anywhere near where it needed to be.
“A lot of that does need disrupting, and we can’t be too polite about that. I feel I’ve got the credentials to not be worried about having those conversations.”
Following an awful 2021/22 for Bath the reset button had to be pressed, and van Graan has spent his near two months in the hot seat helping shape a new playing style.
Attwood explained: “I’ve taken a leading role in the maul work, taking the lead from a player point of view. That’s gonna be one of the pillars this year, and if we can operate there to a really high level that’s gonna create the space for these younger guys to mature and pull the strings behind us.”
However, Attwood, ever the realist, warned evolution takes time, and fans will have to be patient.
Van Graan’s reign at Bath got off to a winning start on Saturday with a 38-7 victory over Championship side Coventry Rugby at Broadstreet RFC. The club will play tomorrow night’s Gallagher Premiership season curtain-jerker against local rivals and Attwood’s former club Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate .
Attwood said: “It wasn’t the best year for Bristol last year either, but they’ve had a lot less disruption in the backroom staff and coaching than Bath have. We’re looking forward to a ripper to open things up.”