Stuart Hooper: Dave Attwood was deflated but he’ll rise for World Cup

Dave Attwood has every right to feel aggrieved at being dropped by England, according to Stuart Hooper, who is backing his club colleague to reclaim his place in the Red Rose boiler room ahead of the World Cup.
Lock forward Attwood, a stalwart of England's early Six Nations campaign, found himself pushed down the pecking order following the return of Courtney Lawes and Geoff Parling and was dumped entirely for the finale against France.
Nick Easter was the replacement second row that day and Bath skipper Hooper believes Attwood was harshly treated, telling The Rugby Paper: “I felt for Dave hugely because I thought he'd been brilliant in the games leading up to the France match.
“His defensive qualities were there for all to see and the work he does in the tight is fantastic as well, so he was really unfortunate not to play in that last game. It hit him hard, of course it did, because he's a quality international player.
“But we'll welcome Dave back into the Bath team now and he'll push myself, Dom Day and all the other second rows really hard for the rest of the season. He brings a lot to our group and without a doubt he will come back even stronger.
“I see him in the gym every day and he's hungry and desperate to prove that, first and foremost, he's good enough for Bath and then push himself to get picked by England again, which I'm sure he will.”
Attwood has a vital part to play for Bath, who are targeting their first silverware in seven years and a first league title victory since 1996.
The West Country outfit find themselves handily placed in third and, with matches against lowly Newcastle, London Irish, Harlequins and Gloucester to come, are in pole position to secure an all-important home play-off semi-final.
A late season collapse saw Bath miss out on a play-off spot last season and Hooper is desperate to avoid complacency. He said: “Of course silverware is what we want and everyone at the club has bought into that and is striving for it.
“We're happy with where we are and are training well, which is important, but we have learnt from last year just how important every play in every match is because you never know until it's too late whether you've missed out on a point.
“Last year we went to Harlequins and that was the game we lost to miss out on the top four, but it wasn't necessarily the game that cost us because there were others at home to Sale and Northampton that we failed to win.”
Bath owner Bruce Craig has invested heavily in a bid to transform his club into champions but Hooper insists he feels no external pressure to succeed, adding: “Bruce is really supportive, the pressure comes from my teammates.
“I hope they feel that pressure from me, too, because it's a rigorous environment in which we challenge each other unbelievably hard.”
Bath are leaving no stone unturned, having recently spent time training with Rugby League giants Wigan Warriors in a bid to improve core skills.
“We mainly looked at their attack,” Hooper explained.
“In Rugby League they have 13 men pretty much in a line, all on their feet, so they have to be really inventive on how they create space, which is something we can learn from.
“They're very good at what they do and it was brilliant to test our core skills against theirs and pick up some useful pointers.
“The Premiership is so competitive at the moment that we need to give ourselves every little edge we can.”
NEALE HARVEY