Dynamic Bath hooker Dan Frost not thrown by set-piece wobbles

Summer signing Dan Frost has had an eventful start to his career at Bath.

On the plus side, the former Bath academy reject has shown off his athletic skills and finishing ability, scoring five tries in eight appearances in all competitions.

However, a thumb injury in the defeat at Leicester and what surely must be the quickest yellow card in PREM history against Northampton, when he was sin-binned for an intentional knock down at the front of the lineout, mean it hasn’t all been plain sailing.

Added to that, Frost knows he has some ground to make up in the nuts and bolts areas of his game before he can push on and consistently be in contention for the blue, black and white No.2 jersey.

Eleven of Frost’s 36 throws in the PREM this season have failed to hit their mark (69%), which places him well behind Tom Dunn (83%) and Kepu Tuipulotu (98%).

“I’ve loved my time so far. For me, it’s just that consistency,” he told RugbyPass.

“Set-piece is always something any front-rower, any forward, can work on and that’s one thing that I really want to push on with my game.

“I’ve always backed myself in terms of the attacking side of things, my speed and that.”

Frost showed a turn of pace more akin to an outside back in making a break against Gloucester recently, only to be stopped metres from the line by Josiah Edwards-Giraud’s last-ditch tap-tackle.

“I was one of them, in my head I was smiling and diving for the corner, but I didn’t see that one behind me.”

Reflecting on his second chance at Bath after being discarded as a youngster, Frost says the club, then and now, are light years apart.

“There’s a massive difference. We didn’t really have an academy manager when I was there, and I was shifted out on loan and that year I left,” said Frost, 28.

“I ended up going to the Champ (he joined Cornish Pirates in 2018), and that was some of the most enjoyable rugby I played in terms of my development, in terms of my set-piece and stuff. Obviously everything has gone full circle now.

“One thing with Johann (van Graan), there’s kind of that family feeling, and that togetherness. That was one of the first things I noticed, how tight the group was and how everyone was on the same hymn sheet in terms of the rugby as well. There’s a plan, there’s an end-goal there.”

For Frost, Sunday’s trip to Sale Sharks represents another opportunity to get some valuable game time and keep up the pressure on the likes of Dunn.

“I’m just grateful to get game time, they are the minutes that I need to get out there and perform,” said Frost.

“Johann is probably going to need the full squad, the 60 players that we’ve got, at some point. So everyone has to take the opportunity when they get it.”

The Cup holders are two wins from four in the competitition, knowing that a third victory would propel them into the top two in their pool with three games left to play. The top two sides from each pool will contest the semi-finals.