I was really sorry to hear that old friend and England rugby international Dave Egerton died last night. He was only 59 and younger than me which makes it all the more saddening. My sincerest condolences go to his family and all his other, many, many other friends. Not only was he an outstanding No.8 for Bath and England, he played for the Lions against France and was always full of stories, humour and an infectious laugh.

Lots of great tributes to Dave in the media and this one from his old club Bath RFC:

DAVID EGERTON
It takes special kind of person and a special type of player to be the number eight in any rugby team, let
alone somewhere like Bath Rugby. More often than not, the behemoth of the back row is the talisman for a team, and unlike many of the  positions we have discussed on these pages this season, not much has changed in that regard as we
stand here today in the modern era. David Egerton was one such man during the eighties and early nineties here at the Rec in a hugely
impressive career spanning a decade, yielding seven England caps. The charismatic, mobile and prolific
number eight who averaged something like a try every three games between September 1985 and January
1995 today gives us an exclusive insight.

David opens by saying we should not harp on too much about the past, to his credit. He says, “Sometimes I’m not keen about going on and on about our era, because it puts a lot of pressure on the modern day guys. Time moves on. We are in the past
now and it’s about the future.”

That’s not to say David isn’t more than willing to delve into his vast vault of tales, an edifying and highly entertaining experience to which anyone attending the Swift Half pre-match this evening will surely attest. After half an hour on the telephone with the gentleman
this week, your correspondent thoroughly recommends that readers make the visit this evening.

His debut in September 1985 saw the young man born in Middlesex but based in Bristol, quickly accustomed to an abrasive but rewarding first team environment under Jack Rowell, as many of his peers have detailed so far in our series. David argues that the great Head
Coach had created a winning culture, and the baptism of fire was of huge benefit. He begins,

“As a youngster coming to training, you would be nervous, because you knew that if you didn’t give 100% on the training field, you’d get found out big time. And then the mickey would be thrown at you big time! You’ve probably heard the stories about scraps
on the training field, it revolved around creating a sparkle, a bubble within the Club.

“Of course, that’s easy to do when you’re winning and on the up, in those days, all you had to be was slightly ahead of the game and it perpetuated itself. It was great fun.

“Bath had good backs when I arrived, the forwards had just started doing well - they had just won the John Player Cup against Bristol when I arrived. The two people who really made Bath Rugby Club really special during our era, were really making things happen were Roger Spurrell and Jack Rowell.”

[Continued at: https://www.bathrugby.com/the-club/legends/david-egerton-tales-from-the-legends-8/]