The Bath Rugby back rower and his teammates were greeted with words of support and encouragement by those in the stands on Sunday despite the heavy defeat.

Whilst acknowledging the performance let the supporters down, the 25-year-old is adamant it wasn’t for the lack of trying or commitment to each other and the club.

“From a performance point of view, yeah I do (think the squad let the fans down),” Underhill said.

“The people that were down at the Rec afterwards were brilliantly supportive for the most part and that makes a huge difference to us as players knowing they have our back. Social media can be a bit of a pit at the best of times but especially after a game like that so it was nice to walk around afters and chat to people and have that support.

“I understand people’s frustration when it comes to the result however, I would never question the commitment of the people here.

“It’s not an effort thing and it’s not a commitment thing. If it was dead easy to come up with the winning formula then everyone would do it. It’s hard and it takes time. I’d like to think we’ve got the commitment and resolve to do that.”

It has been well commented the Blue, Black and Whites have been working on a new style since pre-season and while there have been glimpses in attack, Underhill admits it will take time to perfect.

“We’ve played better attacking rugby already than I’ve seen over a decent amount of time and that’s encouraging to me as a player.

“The fact that Quins won the Premiership with an open, attacking style of rugby… I’m not saying everyone is going to be throwing the ball around potentially as much as they do but in my opinion it’s good for the game.

“It’s entertaining, it’s fun. Dave (Williams) talks about the style game, obviously you want to be winning the scoreboard side of the game as well but ultimately it’s a spectator sport and we want to be playing a type of rugby which is enjoyable and winning.

“Traditionally we’ve gone from a fairly conservative style of rugby where we’ve focused heavily on set piece, our scrum, maul, pick and go, on our contestable box kicking - which famously crowds have said that’s a bit boring - to trying to play a bit differently. As I said, it takes time.”

I would never question the commitment of the people here - Underhill

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