Attwood played for England at Under-19, Under-20 and Saxons level before being called up to the senior squad for the 2010 tour of Australia. He made his Test debut in November 2010 but initially struggled to kick on due to a series of disciplinary problems.

He made his debut against New Zealand at Twickenham as England put it up to the All Blacks but ultimately came up short and he made his second appearance against Samoa as England ground out a win two weeks later. He had earlier courted trouble with a citing for stamping while on tour to Australia, although the charge was dismissed due to a procedural loophole.

The lock encountered further controversy however when he was slapped with a nine week ban after being found guilty of stamping in an incident that left La Rochelle player Petrisor Toderasc with facial damage in their Challenge Cup match on December 19, 2010.

The second-row played ten times for home town club Bristol, before moving up the A38 to Kingsholm and Gloucester in 2009. He played 28 times for his new club in his first season, scoring three tries. Following a successful spell at Gloucester he completed the west country hat-trick by joining Bath in 2011.