England are Favourites to Win the Six Nations….Italy up next………..
This article titled “Six Nations 2011: Dan Cole of England ready to face Italy’s Tiger” was written by Robert Kitson, for The Guardian on Tuesday 8th February 2011 19.52 UTC
Dan Cole admits that he is looking forward to his Twickenham date with Italy this weekend. He may be England’s first‑choice tighthead prop but at club level there is a hairy barrier to his weekly enjoyment. While many in one part of the east Midlands are thrilled that their one-man Italian battalion, Martin Castrogiovanni, has just agreed a new contract to stay at Welford Road with Leicester, it has not made Cole’s life any easier.
Hence the 23-year-old’s eagerness to show what he, and the rest of the England pack can do this weekend, against Castrogiovanni and co. To say Cole is keen to impress is like saying the Leaning Tower of Pisa is slightly off-beam.
“There is a pecking order [at Leicester] in my eyes and I am not at No1,” said Cole, wryly. “To get there means being better than Castro.” Opportunities to out-muscle his rival are not to be squandered.
Quite what happens when Cole approaches the end of his own Leicester contract, next year, will be fascinating to see, given the top-end salaries that quality tightheads can demand. If Castrogiovanni is staying around, the younger man may yet be tempted to look elsewhere.
“I am under contract for the next 18 months and we will see how it goes,” said Cole. Who says props cannot sidestep when required?
Even Cole, though, admits that he partially owes his current status to Castrogiovanni. If there was no need to fight tooth and nail at every training session, just to get into the Tigers’ first team, he might not have risen through the ranks so quickly.
“In some respects we’re good for each other in that one of us doesn’t have to play 80 minutes week after week,” he said. “We push each other as well. You don’t want it handed to you on a plate. You actually quite enjoy the graft. You can’t be complacent. If you’re not being pushed you might fall away. It’s also about what’s best for the club. I’d rather win a Premiership final and be on the bench than start and not reach the final.”
Off the field the two men get on well, although Cole is still waiting for Castrogiovanni to serve him free meals in his Italian restaurant. Coffee is on the house but even Cole concedes that feeding complimentary meals to 19-stone forwards does not make sound economic sense. “If I ran a business and I let five rugby players in I probably wouldn’t let them eat for free,” he says. Then again, Castrogiovanni did invite Cole, Louis Deacon and Steve Thompson to share a ride on the Italian team bus when England were in Rome last year. Someone else must have paid for the petrol.
Such friendships will be put to one side on Saturday. England’s scrummaging coach, Graham Rowntree, said this week that Cole has been advising his loosehead, Andrew Sheridan, on how best to combat the 29-year-old Castrogiovanni.
“Dan is a real student of the game,” said Rowntree. “I have always been impressed, even from an early age, how much he knows about the game. He has given us a few tips on Castro.”
Cole paid attention to events in Rome and Paris last weekend, when the scrum was pivotal. “As a tighthead every game is a challenge,” he said. “But the perception is that Italy, compared to Wales, are better. In terms of scrummaging, they are in the top two or three in the world. They base their game on the set piece and have a lot of guys who know how to scrummage. You’ve got to test yourself against that dominance. Against Ireland they were intent on pushing the Irish for a penalty or trying to break their will as a pack. They are happy to have a long, slow scrummage and wait for you to crack.”
Both England and Italy will finalise their line-ups on Thursday.
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