England international tackles rumour he has asked to quit Bath

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. 

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. 

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.”

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.”