Dan Cole gives brutally frank reaction to controversial end to his career

Retiring prop Dan Cole admitted it will be tough not to rue the “what ifs” after Leicester came up just short in Saturday’s 23-21 Premiership final loss to Bath at the Allianz Stadium.

Bath clung on after two late Leicester tries dialled up the drama at Twickenham, where Johann van Graan’s men clinched their first Premiership title in 29 years and an historic treble.

Cole – who made over 340 appearances for his boyhood club Leicester – was controversially sin-binned in the 69th minute, allowing Finn Russell to slot in three crucial points, though a rare penalty miss from South African World Cup winner Handre Pollard earlier in the half might have also altered the outcome.

“It’s not about me, but did I think the end of my career would go out on a charge down, end up in the sin bin? No,” Cole said in a video on Leicester’s website. “Yeah, it’s tough to say that penalty leads to us losing the game, so it’s one of those.

“You spend all your career thinking ‘what if?’ and it will be one of those, but I say, you actually look at the effort we put in as a team, as a group of players, as a squad, considering 12 months ago we were eighth and couldn’t buy a win, and now you look at this, we’ve come together, Cheiks (Michael Cheika) has forged us in one direction, we’ve overcome some tough times.

“You don’t get the fairy-tale ending, but actually to be part of something, you can go into that room in 10 years’ time and meet the guys, look them in the eye and go, ‘be proud of your efforts’, and that’s what it comes down to.”

Cole is the second-most capped England men’s player with 118, behind Leicester team-mate Ben Youngs, who has 127 and has also called time on his career.

Youngs said: “Straight away, you’re like, ‘I’d love another crack at it please’ but it isn’t. The ink’s dry, we’re done. There’s a good group there, and as Coley says, you’re forever tied to the club.

“We got our shirt presentation the other day, which I found incredibly emotional. I said ‘all I’ve ever wanted to do was play for this club and I’ve done that, thank you all’, because I couldn’t find the words.

“Today epitomises that. I’m immensely proud of it. Losing hurts so much, but you find solace in that group in there.”

Bath ended the club’s 17-year trophy drought earlier in the campaign by lifting the Premiership Rugby Cup before then winning the European Challenge Cup last month with victory over Lyon in Cardiff.

The triumph capped off a complete transformation for Bath, who had finished rock bottom of the Premiership table in the 2021-22 season.

Van Graan, who joined Leicester the following year, said: “I’m so grateful for the journey we’ve been on. You don’t become a champion when you win a trophy, you’re a champion every day of your life, and I’m so proud of this group of people that in three years have done the unthinkable.”