Dan Cole: Missing magnums, playing in jeans, packing down with girls
Dan Cole becoming a Test centurion was one of the sights of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations that you could never have imagined happening before the tournament started. The tighthead hadn’t been capped by England since bearing the brunt of the dominant Springboks scrum at the 2019 Rugby World Cup final and now aged 35, he figured his Test career was long since over. Then everything changed overnight.
Steve Borthwick, his Leicester coach, succeeded Eddie Jones as the England boss, Cole swiftly returned to the international fold and there he was – five caps later – being handed a celebratory magnum of champagne in the Aviva Stadium dressing room after his fifth appearance as a replacement in the championship vaulted him up to the milestone 100 mark.
Cole survived the historic Dublin night intact. There were drinks with the legendary Jason Leonard; bundles of video and text messages, the content of which he prefers not to divulge. But what became of the massive magnum? “It’s being freighted back,” he revealed on Wednesday, 11 days after joining the 100-caps-for-his-country-club.
“It was too big to get in my hand luggage and my backpack, so it got given to the kit man and hopefully it’s somewhere in the country. I haven’t been told where. I need to chase that up, but I don’t have that many friends to be able to drink it all in one go so I don’t know what I will do with it,” he chuckled before referencing his high jinks with Leonard and all those messages he received.
“That was a memorable part of the night from what I can remember. He [Leonard] brought across drinks, and we had a drink together. It was a good night. He was delighted to have someone to drink with.
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A special day for Dan Cole.#IREvENG || #GuinnessSixNations || #WearTheRose pic.twitter.com/W3CtN6aRFK
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) March 18, 2023
“I got a couple of nice video messages that the squad arranged, lots of text messages. I’m grateful for what came through. There was a lot and some that stuck out but none that I will talk about. You appreciate them all. I’m very fortunate I have had a long career. Too many to thank – all those people who helped you. Fortunately, I had a long career with some milestones along the way which I am very appreciative of.”
The centurion prop had humble beginnings in the game. Ahead of Friday night’s Heineken Champions Cup round-of-16 encounter versus Edinburgh, the Leicester stalwart shed light on how it all started, how he played in jeans the first night down at his grassroots rugby club and he wound up packing down with a Belgian women’s team as a 15-year-old on tour to make up the numbers.
With a nod and a wink, he took us back to those carefree days. “I started playing at Kibworth High School, they had a rugby team there and I did rugby and PE. A couple of boys who were at South Leicester said, ‘Come along’. I went there on a Thursday evening and basically did my first training session in jeans because I just turned up to check it out and the next second, they said, ‘Let’s play’.
“It was brilliant, a great club. We went on tour to Holland at U15s and the team we were supposed to play didn’t turn up. They got in an U18s Belgian ladies side but they didn’t have enough players, so they did a draft and they obviously recognised talent when they saw it – I was the first pick and played a game. It was a bit strange but a good tour.
“I was better at rugby than football and just enjoyed the game. It was a lot different. The whole coming from football where you used to literally turn up in the car, play the game and go home to a setup where home games you would turn up in a shirt and tie and everyone would go in the clubhouse after for a drink – we had the sausage, chips, pint of coke – and it was just a good thing. I really enjoyed it. Still do.”
Hard work is the elixir keeping Cole trim despite the notion that rugby is supposedly now more of a younger person’s game. “When you enjoy what we do you want to keep doing it and in today’s day and age you can’t just turn up on a Saturday and play, you have to do the work during the week.
“You want to keep up with the guys. There are constantly guys in the squad wanting to improve and get better and you want to keep up with those guys. I’m fortunate here at Leicester with so many great players, great coaches that you have a reason to come into work and want to work and improve yourself.
“I’m looking forward to Friday night, that’s all I am looking forward to. We can’t look any further past that. It is a massive challenge. A European game on a Friday night, that is what you want to be playing in. It means a lot. We didn’t qualify for a couple of years and you realise how special the competition is.
“Playing last year after a couple of years in the Challenge Cup, you remember how big a competition and how special it is and what it means to the club and everyone around it. Yes, we have a history from 23 years ago, whatever it is, but big European nights are what you look forward to if you get this far.”
A trip back to Dublin is the prize up for grabs as title favourites Leinster, who host Ulster on Saturday, are tipped to provide the quarter-final opposition for the winners of this Leicester-Edinburgh tie.
Although England were ultimately beaten on their trip there, Ireland producing a last-quarter flourish to clinch the Grand Slam, Cole would return there with a spring in his step, buoyed by the personal achievement of making it back on the Test scene after so long away.
“I didn’t think I was going to be picked. When that first squad was announced after the 2019 World Cup, I thought that was it pretty much done. You never give up but fortunately, when you are 70 years old you still think you can play for your country, so you never give up entire hope. But at the same time, I didn’t think I was going to get selected.
“I was fortunate at Leicester that Steve was coming in (in 2020) and we had a big rebuild here, something to throw yourself into. I was very fortunate we built a very good team at Leicester (that won the 2022 Premiership title). You are challenged every day, challenged by people who you want to get for and that has allowed me to get back into the England set up.
REPORT CARD: After a tumultuous Six Nations for England, @heagneyl ??? rates all 30 England players that Steve Borthwick used over the course of the campaign. #sixnations2023 https://t.co/PnOiUuIIFM
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 20, 2023
“It [the scrum] was an improvement. You look at the statistics, playable ball etc, penalties, the one last week we definitely improved. It gave us a stable platform to play off. There is still improvement to go. I know the work Steve and the guys put in, we wanted to improve and speaking to those guys there is still a lot more we want to do to get better.
“There were certain things referees looked at. Sometimes they were more focused on tighthead and staying square and other times it was looseheads and keeping them in. Steve wanted the scrum not to give away penalties and wanted it as a platform to play off.
“If you win a penalty, you can get 40, 50 yards up the field. The emphasis was more on the scrum in some regards because of the way the game is at the minute, but a scrum is a scrum – the mentality now that was still the same as when I first started.”
What was Cole’s general verdict on England, though, following their third successive two-wins-from-five campaign? “There were a lot of ups and downs. Maybe the performance in Wales was the best moment.
“Steve came in and from where the squad was, results don’t reflect it but it was a step forward and there is still a long way to go, a lot of improvement and hard work to be done but hopefully that can be done in the pre-season.”
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments