Dave Attwood: Bath's lack of trophies is increasingly frustrating

A frustrated Dave Attwood says Bath must stop “hinting and teasing” at what they can achieve and instead finally deliver silverware.

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The West Country side have not won a trophy since lifting the European Challenge Cup in 2008, with a loss at Sale on the final day of the regular season ending any hopes of the club salvaging a place in the Premiership play-offs.

After spending five trophy-less seasons at The Rec, lock forward Attwood admits to an increasing sense of disappointment.

Bath were riding high in the league table prior to Christmas, but a lack of consistency saw them gradually fall off the Premiership pace.

And Attwood admits the formula that will give the club the necessary consistency remains elusive.

Bath have had four different bosses since Attwood joined the club in 2011 – Sir Ian McGeechan, Gary Gold, Mike Ford and now Todd Blackadder – and Attwood believes such churn has hindered the side’s fortunes.

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“As a club, we are capable and should be achieving play-off rugby, finals and we should be aiming for silverware every season,” 30-year-old Attwood said.

“It’s increasingly frustrating from my point of view.

“We certainly don’t have the answer to what it is that will produce the consistency. We’ll have to keep kicking on and hopefully the process will give us the answer.”

Since Attwood moved to Bath from Gloucester in 2011, Bath were defeated finalists in the Challenge Cup in 2014 and Premiership runners-up to Saracens in 2015.

“We’re on the fourth coach since I’ve been here and that doesn’t help,” he said. “The turnover of the squad has been quite dramatic and there have been a number of other factors that have contributed.

“We’re trying to be very specific about what we are trying to fix. Sometimes it’s strategy, sometimes it’s emotional.

“Trying to put your finger on the recipe is difficult but a number of teams have managed to do it – look at the Bath of years ago, Wasps, Leicester and now Sarries.

“We’ve struggled to find it. A few times we’ve teased that we are there. Hopefully it’s a matter of time before it clicks and it lasts for a whole season.”

Attwood’s season was marred by a niggling knee injury that kept him out for four months, with the 24-cap England forward only returning for Bath’s Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Stade Francais.

“Four months out with an unfortunate injury which was teasing me with the promise of fitness but not delivering was very frustrating,” he said.

“It reflects what’s gone on with the season as a whole at the club, where we’ve hinted and teased at what we can deliver.”

Dave Attwood: "I'm not going to try and be the next Danny Grewcock"

Dave Attwood’s dog – recently back from an emergency dash to the vet – is giving him the runaround. “I’m sorry, I’ll have to call you back in ten minutes,” he apologises, an ever-so-slight hint of alarm in his West Country brogue.

Being given the runaround is not an experience to which the hulking 18st England lock is accustomed. Nor is the emotion of alarm one that you would readily associate with the man; it’s he who does the alarming.

But Attwood, who is starting out on a two-year deal at Bath, is more than a rugby tough nut. Beneath his massive frame is a thoughtful mind – and he has plenty to say.

Not that that should come as a surprise. As well as international honours, Attwood has an honours degree in philosophy and physics. And while we don’t have time to talk Descartes or Schrodinger’s Cat (although I suspect he’d take a question about either in his stride), Attwood covers plenty of ground – including his pubic area.

Firstly, I want to know whether he’s fit.

“The knee’s in good shape,” he says, referring to the problem that ended his hopes of a World Cup berth.

“But I’ve had something called osteitis pubis – an inflammation of the joint at the front of the pelvis – and that’s been the main issue.”

While this sounds like the sort of malady guaranteed to get schoolboys giggling in a lower-fifth biology class, it’s been far from a laughing matter for the second row.

Attwood picked up the condition while training with England during the Six Nations in February. It refused to go away and the problem came to a head in June.

“When England had my knee scanned they had a look at the pelvis as well and there was more of an issue there then initially thought,” he explains.

“The only solution is rest, and I’ve been limited in what I’ve been able to do.”

The condition has forced Attwood to train in fits and starts, with the inflammation flaring up whenever he overdoes things. But he remains cautiously optimistic of being fit enough to make his competitive debut for Bath in the season’s curtain-raiser at Newcastle on Saturday.

The 24-year-old moved to Bath in May following spells at West Country rivals Bristol and Gloucester. And with Bath stalwart Danny Grewcock having hung up his boots at the end of last season, much has been made of Attwood being the club’s next ‘enforcer’ – although he insists he will be his own man at The Rec.

“I’m a bit of a lump and I like to throw myself around a bit and people draw parallels,” he says. “The same sort of thing happened when I was called up to the England squad, with people comparing me to Martin Johnson. There is a character like that in most teams.

“But we’ve a new group of players at Bath and a slightly different game plan. There is a new way of thinking.

“I’m very much here to be Dave Attwood and the people running the club feel Dave Attwood will be someone who can help get the club going in the right direction.

“I don’t see it as me being the person who Danny was, because we are not the same player. It’s dangerous to start trying to live up to people’s expectations. I’m going to be who I am.”

There is a blend of defiance and clear-thinking in what Attwood says. There is an undertow of authority too – and he is frank that he has moved to Bath with the intention of establishing himself as one of the club’s leaders.

“As a reasonably young player just coming into the meat of his career, I want to feel like I am able to take the reins a bit,” he says. “I want to be somebody who other people in the squad look to.”

Away from the field, Attwood and his partner are setting about renovating a house on the west side of the city. The place, he admits, is currently a mess of knocked-through walls, but he has big plans. And while he is passionate about transforming his newly acquired bricks and mortar into something special, so too does he see the scope for a title-winning transformation at his new team.


“It’s an opportunity to make something happen,” he said.

“With Bath, there is something of the unknown and there is certainly a great expectancy about what this club can achieve. That’s very exciting for a young player.”

And then he’s off again, this time to a meeting at the club’s headquarters. Maybe, if his dog behaves, I’ll get on to Descartes the next time I speak to this renaissance man of English rugby.

Could it soon be Bath time for Wallaby lock Chisholm?

Here's an exclusive of mine published in today's Bath Chronicle

Experienced Australia international Mark Chisholm is being lined up by Bath Rugby as a muscular addition to the club's second row.

The Chronicle understands that negotiations with the 56-cap Wallaby are advanced, with the 29-year-old having visited Bath's Farleigh Hungerford headquarters for talks.

Sources say the 6ft 6in lock forward, who started for Australia in the 35-18 loss at Twickenham on Saturday, visited Farleigh House shortly after the Wallaby squad touched down in England ahead of the Investec Autumn International series.
Click here for more

The Chronicle also understands that Bath have expressed an interest in signing Dave Attwood, Gloucester's Bristol-born lock. The 23-year-old made his England debut against New Zealand a fortnight ago.

"Signing Chisholm and Attwood would mean it was 'problem solved' for Bath in the second row," said a source close to the club. "But that's a lot of money."

With veteran lock Danny Grewcock retiring at the end of the season and promising 22-year-old Scott Hobson suffering with a long-term arm injury, the second row has been identified by the Bath management as a potential weak spot.

Cover has been provided this season in the form of seasoned Argentinian lock Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe and US Eagles skipper John van der Giessen, who are both on short-term contracts. But Bath are keen to secure top-drawer replacements on longer term deals sooner rather than later.

Chisholm and Attwood would fit the bill nicely. The former, who hails from Queensland like Bath head coach Steve Meehan, has a prolific try-scoring record for a lock, while the abrasive Attwood has been identified as a potential England 'enforcer' of the future.

Chisholm – reputed to have the biggest biceps in the Wallabies set up – started his career with Queensland Reds before joining the Canberra-based Brumbies in 2003, where he has remained ever since.

The virtues of life at The Rec may well have been extolled to him by club-mate Julian Salvi. Salvi returned to Canberra in the summer having enjoyed an eye-catching season at Bath, where he excelled at openside flanker and was named the club's Forward of the Season.

In his final interview before returning to his homeland, Salvi told the Chronicle of his fondness for Bath Rugby and his determination to return after a stint back in Australia. That enthusiasm for Bath will doubtless have been transmitted to rugby circles back in Canberra.

Chisholm, who has played Test rugby at blindside flanker as well as at lock, made his international debut against Scotland in 2004.

He made three appearances for Australia in the 2007 World Cup and any move to Bath is likely to occur in November after the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

Attwood aims to keep Borthwick on the sidelines

I interviewed rising Gloucester and England lock Dave Attwood recently as part of research I was doing for Premiership Rugby's forthcoming season handbook/magazine. The man is a mountain; his hands, truly, are shovels. He must also be one of the few tight five forwards around with a degree in philosophy and physics (although, on the topic of unlikely subjects of intellectual study for rugby forwards, I've got a feeling Saracens' Hugh Vyvyan studied theology...). Anyway, I liked Dave. A very level-headed guy with an appetite for hard graft. I expect big things.
The Premiership magazine, by the way, should be out sometime towards the end of September. I'll update when I've got a firm date.

The man who’s pinched Steve Borthwick’s spot in the England Elite Player Squad admits he’s got an eye on next year’s World Cup – but says his first job is rolling up his sleeves at his club.
Dave Attwood shot to prominence during England’s summer tour of Australasia, impressing Martin Johnson with his non-Test performances against the Australian Barbarians.
But now it’s back to the day job at Gloucester. And the 23-year-old is relishing the task, although he admits a starting berth is not guaranteed at his club.
“You can never lose sight of how you get to where you want to go,” he said. “I’ve got big international ambitions, but if I don’t play well for my club I’m not going to get a chance or even a look-in at international level. So it's really important for me to play well for Gloucester.
"But when you get back in to the club environment it’s easy to see why you want to play here.
"I don’t think at all about international rugby when I’m playing for the club, I think about playing for the club and how we can get results here."
Gloucester bade farewell to six players at the end of last season and signed just three. And Attwood believes that such limited change has provided the side with the platform they need to kick on after a disappointing seventh place in last season’s Premiership.
"We've had very few ins and outs over the summer and that's key if you're trying to build form,” he explained.
“Last year there was an enormous overhaul of players, coaches and backroom staff so everything was bound to be a bit more unsettled.
“It's nice this year that there's a lot more consistency. Everyone knows where they stand and we can push hard together.
“Hopefully this year we are a bit more bonded and have got used to playing with each other a bit more, and that ball will bounce a bit more in our favour and we'll get a few more of those results.”
Attwood admits competition for places among Gloucester’s locks is fierce, with Alex Brown, Will James and new signing Jim Hamilton all vying for the 4 and 5 shirts. And he’s modest about his prospects.
"I'm certainly not the finished article and while I'm going to be pushing hard for that starting shirt, I know they offer many of things that I do and in many cases a lot more,” he said.
“There is a lot of competition for shirts. It's by no means a given that I will be starting for Gloucester this year so I've got to focus on getting that shirt at the weekend."