Bath lock Dave Attwood hopes coach Eddie Jones can lift England
Thursday 26 November 2015 14:48, UK
Dave Attwood, snubbed by Stuart Lancaster for England's Rugby World Cup, is hoping new coach Eddie Jones can reinvigorate the team.
The Bath lock said he hopes the new coach "gets that excitement back" for the national team.
He also spoke about the heartache of being left out the squad, which he said was "just down to one person's opinion", adding that he had done everything he could to impress former England coach Lancaster.
Attwood missed out on being involved in England's World Cup campaign that ended with a humiliating pool stage exit following defeats against Wales and Australia at Twickenham.
He said: "Getting back to Bath got me out of the World Cup slump. A lot of the players I know at England could not wait to get back into their club environments, which is a shame, considering that international rugby should be the very pinnacle of your career.
"That's not just the Bath lads, it's the same elsewhere. I hope the new era with Eddie Jones gets that excitement back."
Lancaster left the England head coach role a fortnight ago, with 55-year-old Australian Jones appointed as successor. England's first ever foreign head coach starts the job next Tuesday.
Attwood, who signed a new contract with Bath earlier this week, described missing out on the World Cup as "devastating".
He added: "I jumped through every hoop they wanted me to. The decision was just down to one person's opinion, and that was a steep learning curve for me.
"That's why I decided to look at contract negotiations and weigh up non-English options. When we were in Argentina in 2013, the message I got from Lancaster was that he wanted me to be the biggest, most powerful second-row on the planet, so I went out and got stronger than anyone else.
"Then in New Zealand in 2014, it was decided I needed to be trimmer and he wanted me to be more mobile on the pitch, so I did that. Throughout the World Cup camps, I was one of the fittest forwards."
