Dan Cole, England's rock?
The scrum has always been deeply shrouded in mystery to the outside eye, 32 legs pushing in a highly regulated contest, where the best part of two tons of power meets. The rules that regulate it have changed again and again, until 1932 scrums were seven men in 2, 3, 2 formation! In the modern scrum the tight head is the anchor of the scrum, while the loose heads primary role is to defend the hooker so he can get a clean hook, the tight head is destructive, attacking the opposition's scrum. A team cannot function without world class tight heads, so England are perhaps blessed that it is Dan Cole who occupies England's number 3 shirt.
Cole started his career in the backrow, but at Leicester he developed into a tight head, were he continues to develop today. At only 24 years old the Leicester born and bred front row still has a long way to go before he becomes world class, but the path he needs to take is a clear one and he is well on his way. What we often forget about Cole is that he has huge potential, the beard's misleading, he's not as grizzled and battle hardened as we may think! This potential was seen by the England set up early, he was capped at England U18, played every game of 2006 U19 World Championship and Six Nations and represented the England U20s too.
Playing at Leicester gives Cole a unique opportunity; he is quite literally surrounded by international front rows. Head Coach Richard Cockerill is a former England hooker, former international Julian White plied his trade at Leicester for years and of course the Azzuri power house, Martin Castrogiovanni is an ever present figure. After being on loan with Bedford and Nottingham Cole made his break through in the 2008/09 season, including an appearance in the Guinness Premiership final. He has gone from strength to dominance ever since.
His body position in "the hit displays a strong technical ability resulting in him being able to hit that sweet spot just beneath his opposite number. This results in props being able to drive up and over their opposition. This technical ability allows him to exercise control over the scrum, staying cool under pressure, dropping a shoulder to wheel the scrum for example. He is not the most powerful of props, not the most aggressive, or the strongest but what he does possess is a fantastic understanding of the techniques in propping and a unique staying power. This staying power has allowed him to regularly start every game of a tournament throughout his career, including the 2011 Six Nations without ever letting his opposition get on top of him as a result of fatigue. Being able to prop time and time again with a steady reliability is a huge bonus, and has an attritional effect on his opposite number. It could also make him the perfect foil for Harlequins dynamic loose head Joe Marler if Stuart Lancaster follows many pundits first choice England front row.
Cole made his debut against Rome in the 2010 Six Nations and has cemented his place, seemingly seeing off the more feisty and aggressive Paul Doran Jones with ease. We know that Cole's particular talents are unlikely to be tainted in the England squad with Graham Rowntree at the helm of scrum coaching. Heralded as a "head of his time Rowntree is a hugely positive influence on the props career.
In the loose Cole puts in a good shift, he is not the dynamic ball carrier that some modern props are, but he offers himself as a strike runner on the fringes. Cole's defence is worth a mention, you can often find him defending the gate, that space either side of the ruck that scrum halves love to attack so much. Cole also tracks behind the centres plugging any cracks in defence making strong tackles.
With a blossoming career it is perhaps a surprise that Cole is arguably second choice at Leicester, and apparently happy with it. Cockerill announced that his front row investment has put pen to paper for another three years. However it is not such a surprise considering Castrogiovanni is now 30 and the balance will start to shift in Cole's favour, while keeping him in Leicester's environment. Like a fine wine props improve with age, as Cole develops into his late twenties he will have a wealth of experience and command of the dark arts. When he emerges from this latest contract extension, Cole will have a wealth of opportunities in front of him; including the 2015 world cup.
