Tom Dunn hails Ben Spencer’s ‘contagious’ effect after Bath’s Challenge Cup win
Bath are two wins away from the Premiership title and a trophy treble.
Tom Dunn has hailed captain Ben Spencer’s “contagious” effect on the club after Bath edged closer towards an historic trophy treble.
Dunn and company added the EPCR Challenge Cup to a cabinet that already contained the Premiership Rugby Cup by beating Lyon 37-12 in Cardiff on Friday.
Having guaranteed themselves a home Premiership play-off in April – possibly against west country rivals Bristol at the Recreation Ground on June 6 – Bath are two wins away from league title glory.
It all represents an astonishing transformation from just under three years ago when head of rugby Johann van Graan arrived at the club from Munster.
Bath propped up the Premiership in 2022, losing 18 league games and finishing 60 points behind regular-season table-toppers Leicester.
Dunn, who joined the club 10 years earlier, has been through thick and thin and made more Premiership appearances for Bath than any other player.
And he readily recognises the contribution of England international scrum-half Spencer to Bath’s success, which he underlined with a player-of-the-match display against Lyon.
“Ben is brilliant,” Bath hooker Dunn said. “It is the example he sets.
“He emptied the tank. He chases every kick, he is our main man in defence, he is the one who sets the tempo.
“Boys like me push the piano – he plays it. His decision-making, his skill, his accuracy is contagious to the team and the entire group. He is an example on the pitch.”
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Reflecting on Bath’s Challenge Cup success, Dunn added: “The hunger has been there for as long as I can remember.
“This isn’t the end – there is no end to it. The hunger is huge, and it is driven mostly by the players who aren’t playing.
“They are the ones that push us in the week, they are the ones that drive the standards in training. They paint the pictures that we want to paint on the weekend.”
Bath, 15 points clear at the Premiership summit, face Saracens in their final regular-season game next weekend.
Attention will then turn to the knockout phase, with Bath closing in on a second successive Allianz Stadium appearance following their 25-21 defeat against Northampton in last year’s final.
Spencer said: “The (Challenge Cup final) performance was something that has been building for a very long time, and to see the hunger, see the fight of this group was unbelievable.
“These moments don’t come around very often, and you have to enjoy them and embrace them. We’ve worked hard for this trophy.
“This group is unbelievably hungry to get better, and I have no doubt on Tuesday we will back to zero, which is something we speak about all the time.”