Don't mess with scrum warns ‘old man' Cole

HAVING been chased around his garden while dressed as an ankylosaurus for the amusement of his kids during lockdown, Dan Cole feared he was also destined to be a dinosaur of the rugby world.

- JON NEWCOMBE

Talk of a depowered scrum and a faster, looser game left the renowned Leicester and England prop wondering where he’d fit into the post-Covid landscape.

“You’re always worried about the scrum being depowered,” he told The Rugby Paper.

“Originally when some of the protocols came out, there was talk of having non-contested scrums and playing touch and stuff. That’s not the game.

“The game of Rugby Union, the unique part of it, is the scrum, and the different variety of bodies and players who can play the game. That’s what makes the game as great as it is.

“I am glad the scrum is here. I haven’t heard anything more about limiting the scrums.”

Cole is no new-age prop. His game is built around shoving bodies and pushing hard, not tipping on tryscoring passes or making scorching line breaks like his England successor, Kyle Sinckler.

One string he does have to his bow, however, is the ability to slow ball down or pilfer it at the breakdown, a skill he hopes to rekindle under the new directives which have taken some of the unfair advantages of the attacker away.