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England international tackles rumour he has asked to quit Bath

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

England international Ben Spencer has taken to Twitter to respond to speculation that he asked to be released from his Bath contract following another week of upheaval at the struggling Gallagher Premiership club. 

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It emerged on Wednesday afternoon that director of rugby Stuart Hooper was being demoted to a new general manager role while chairman Ed Griffiths was leaving Bath amid rumours of a power struggle these past six months between the pair

The 12th-placed Bath also confirmed that Johann van Grann, the South African who was recruited last December as head coach from Munster for the 2022/23 season, will now be the head of rugby and will have full control over first-team affairs with Hooper reporting to him and not the other way around. 

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Dave Attwood on bust ups with Owen Farrell, Sam Burgess & new Bath era | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 35

Bristol and England’s Dave Attwood joins the guys this week to reveal some loose stories from a well-traveled career. We hear about his run-in with Owen Farell, why his modern man approach didn’t go down well with a certain head coach, and skiing in France with the Galacticos of Toulon. We also get Dave’s first-hand account of Carl Fearns and Gavin Henson’s bust-up and the fallout from Sam Burgess’ move to Bath.

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Dave Attwood on bust ups with Owen Farrell, Sam Burgess & new Bath era | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 35

Bristol and England’s Dave Attwood joins the guys this week to reveal some loose stories from a well-traveled career. We hear about his run-in with Owen Farell, why his modern man approach didn’t go down well with a certain head coach, and skiing in France with the Galacticos of Toulon. We also get Dave’s first-hand account of Carl Fearns and Gavin Henson’s bust-up and the fallout from Sam Burgess’ move to Bath.

These latest changes ignited all sorts of speculation and one rumour that emerged was that Spencer, the four-cap Test scrum-half who joined Bath during the summer of 2020, wanted out with immediate effect. 

A sub for England in the 2019 World Cup final, Spencer has been one of the most consistent Bath performers in a season of best-forgotten strife but the suggestion that he now wants to exit The Rec drew a response from him on social media.  

Bath fan Henry Weeks had posted on Twitter on Thursday: “Absolute joke if the rumour I have just seen about Ben Spencer asking to be released from his contract is true.” Spencer replied on Friday, “Completely untrue.” This was a response that was well-received by Weeks. “Great news that Ben Spencer has confirmed on here to me and many people that the rumour yesterday is not true!

“Awesome news as he is the heart and soul of what is good about what we do! Apologies for highlighting what has now been proved to be an unfounded rumour.”

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Spencer hasn’t been the only Bath player active on social media since Wednesday’s latest changes at the club. Joe Cokanasiga, Spencer’s fellow England international, tweeted ‘Weird lol’ in reply to the official Bath tweet announcing their latest managerial reset

The winger deleted that comment, which was in contrast to what the Dragons-bound Max Clark wrote. “I want to say a personal thank you to Ed Griffiths he brought some needed light in a very dark season,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the promising midfielder Max Ojomoh liked a tweet from Bath fan Henry Bate. It read: “Shocked… and incredibly concerned at this! Griffiths was providing the required culture shock… yet somehow some of the ‘poison’ remains.”

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C
CO 27 minutes ago
Forget Ireland, the All Blacks face the real alpha of Europe next

I cannot believe that you don't think the French rugby team coach and captain are not discussing putting Jalibert on the bench in favour of Duponts club teammate that doesn't even play at 10.


This is a terrible, massive insult to a 10 and I'm sure Dupont would also be very enraged if benched for a player that doesn't even play halfback.


A good captain would've insisted to the coach that it was an idea of madness and either select Jalibert or replace him with another 10 if you want him to be reserve.


Jalibert may not be the world's finest tacklers but that's often not a tens main strength that the loose forwards and second five cover. An intercept pass is never great but they happen.


When any player is playing for his club then it's club first, respect doesn't need to be shown to opposition players simply because they're internationals.


Who exactly are you claiming Jalibert hasn't respected? If it's Toulouse international players then it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this bench demotion out.


The outcome of selecting Jalibert to the bench and he then throwing his croissants out the window of the team bus immediately prior to playing the Allblacks is a disaster that will be team disharmony as any team mates of Jalibert are in a state of anger and revolt so a performance that will be sub optimal against a team that is thirsting for revenge against France.


I don't know about you but the Allblacks are very upset they've lost twice in a row to France and want to put out a statement performance so this preparation by Galthie of creating havoc looks to me like a coach that is clueless.

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