Dan Cole: It’s true, England don’t have any top-class players

Red rose’s old banger is no classic car, and veteran tighthead admits his responsibility for its juddering progress

(2016 Getty Images)

At London’s Royal Garden Hotel, where Bobby Moore’s Boys of ’66 came for dinner and celebrations in the hours after winning their World Cup final, Dan Cole was asked whether the current England rugby team have any world-class players.

“You look on form and there are arguments in certain positions but I would say there are no stand-out individuals in our team that would make a clear World XV,” the big tighthead prop from Leicester said. “But there is potential and there are a lot of quality players that can make the next step to the world-class level and be a very good side.”

England’s opening wins in this year’s Six Nations Championship, away to Scotland and Italy in the past fortnight, have been solid enough to raise questions about how soon they might return to the higher echelons of the world rankings – they are sixth now, compared with eighth after last autumn’s World Cup – while flawed enough to rule out much quibbling with Cole’s assessment. It was a follow-up to a similar verdict handed down a few minutes beforehand by Eddie Jones, the head coach. “Not at the moment” was Jones’s reply when asked if England have players worthy of inclusion in a World XV.

Given that Cole, 28, has 58 caps as the sheet anchor of England’s scrum and he played from the bench in all three Tests on the winning British and Irish Lions tour to Australia in 2013, it could be seen as a kick in the teeth for him as much as anyone.

But this über-phlegmatic front-rower is more interested in meeting the next challenge head on. A winning display against Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday will nudge England’s standing higher and raise a buzz about a possible first Grand Slam and second title since 2003, when Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson were among half a dozen acknowledged world leaders.

“We are progressing,” said Cole. “Eddie wants to go back to the traditional English rugby of 2003 and before that. I think he understands it is a work in progress. Scrum-wise we improved from Scotland to Italy but line-out-wise I don’t think we did. Ireland is going to be big, they have got a very good line-out with people like [Devin] Toner in the middle of it, and the way we performed against Italy won’t hold up against them. So we are really on to that.”

Considering the Jones version was that England are “a bit like an old car at the moment – going in the right direction, but our line-out worked really well in the first game and the scrum was a bit shaky, whereas in the second game our line-out was shaky and our scrum was good”, it is no secret that a lot of set-piece work has been done, either during the past week’s change-of-scene shift into London, or back at the normal base in Bagshot in the days to come.

England’s new forwards coach and former captain, Steve Borthwick, is tweaking technique, while the renowned 1980s hardnut Graham Dawe was brought in by Jones to look specifically at hooking clean ball and, maybe as a byproduct, sharpen up the pack’s attitude. “I know what sort of player he was,” Cole said of the now 56-year-old Dawe, who saw long service for Bath and England. “Cockers [Cole’s club boss Richard Cockerill] tells me a story that he ran out in a game against Bath at Welford Road once, and Dawe was stretching and Cockers with his studs on ran over his fingers. Dawe just looked up and smiled at him.”

England’s hopes of hurting the Irish have not been harmed by the Six Nations winners of the past two seasons having now lost the totemic Brian O’Driscoll (in 2014) and Paul O’Connell to retirement.

“There are a lot of new players in the Irish pack,” said Cole, “and if you take out Paul O’Connell, who is a legend of the game, it is probably not going to be as strong. In Paris [in last weekend’s 10-9 loss] the French pack got stuck into the Irish in the second half. But I am sure the Irish will come prepared for a physical battle and have something else to make us think.”

What England are continuing to think about is the high number of penalties they concede – 12 to Scotland’s nine in Edinburgh, 13 to Italy’s nine in Rome. It was a crucial aspect this time last year when England were going well, only to lose 19-9 in Ireland as a clear indication they might struggle at the World Cup. The 2003 coach, Clive Woodward, has always said 10 penalties conceded is the desired limit. Jones prefers not to put a figure on it but he damned “silly” penalties as a frustration. “The smart teams give away penalties in areas where it doesn’t cost you three points,” the coach said.

Cole was admirably honest after his prominent part in England’s penalty downfall in Dublin last March, and remains so now when dissecting how misjudgements can occur. To an extent they can be the price paid for valuable turnovers.

“We are not coached to give away penalties, it comes down to technique,” Cole said. “It’s like me last weekend in Rome. I gave away one for a clear-out when I’m clearly off my feet and that’s down to individual responsibility. I hit it at the wrong angle, too low, and ran into an Italian brick wall. I knew immediately there was a pretty good chance I would get pinged.

“It annoys you because you understand the knock-on effect in the game. I have got to work at being better at clearing breakdowns. We are working on techniques this week.”

Cole added that “it’s picked up by the coaching staff – Paul Gustard and Steve Borthwick go through it and tell you what you can do better.”

And how about Jones and his well-documented reputation for “riding” players with caustic criticism? Had the Aussie been on Cole’s case yet? “He’s been very positive. He engages with the lads and you know where you stand. If it’s crap he will tell you it’s crap; if it’s good, it’s good.

“At the same time you can see every day he’s finding out what makes people tick. It may just be in a corridor, when he will ask you a question, but he’s building his knowledge of each individual – what makes you work and what doesn’t.”

Billy Vunipola, the No 8, said he had received a few cuddles from Jones. “I don’t do cuddles,” said Cole. “I come from Leicester.”