England’s Dan Cole comes in from cold for Six Nations opener in Wales
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Version 0 of 1. Dan Cole is set to start for England against Wales in Cardiff on Friday a year after winning the last of his 45 caps as the injury-hit men in white look to maximise experience on a ground where they lost by a record margin two years ago. The prop played against Scotland in the second round of the 2014 Six Nations before being told that a persistent neck complaint required surgery. He missed the rest of the season as well as the tour to New Zealand, returning for Leicester during the autumn international series. Cole has not played since suffering a leg injury at the end of December but he will be thrust back into the starting XV after David Wilson, who started all 10 Tests at tighthead in Cole’s absence, was ruled out by a neck injury. “David has a nerve problem in his neck and we hope he will be in the mix next week,” said the England forwards coach, Graham Rowntree. “Dan trained all last week and he is a classy, proven operator who has not been twiddling his thumbs for the last six weeks. We train pretty fast, 15 on 15, and he has settled in nicely. I have no qualms about his match fitness. “Under Warren Gatland Wales have always had a lot of caps and experience. When you start the Six Nations with a massive game away in Cardiff you need experience. Caps are important. Dan is a Lion and to have him available is great for me. Dealing with environments such as the one we will encounter on Friday night comes through experience.” The scrum has been a key area of the game in the past two meetings between England and Wales, going the way of the home team each time when both earned the majority of the penalties awarded at set pieces. In the professional game the set piece has become less a means of providing ball with which to attack and more a means of gaining points or position through the referee’s whistle. “The scrum is a factor in most games,” Rowntree said. “Adam Jones is no longer around for Wales but I like the shape of Samson Lee. He is a proactive scrummager and I respect Warren for sticking with him.” England also have a decision to make at hooker, where Dylan Hartley has had disciplinary problems. Experience is again likely to prove decisive, though, with his set-piece prowess, in particular his lineout throwing given the absence of four targets through injury, counting in his favour over Tom Youngs. “There is pressure on Dylan and we have to manage that,” Rowntree said. “We will be speaking a lot this week about his clarity of thought going into this game. We did so four years ago when Gatland called him out in the lead-up. I do not like it when coaches do that and I was there when Gatland apologised afterwards when Dylan had been man of the match. “I have every faith in him. I see determination in his eyes and he has to focus on what he has to do for the team. He is a key, experienced asset, not a liability.” Rowntree said England are not haunted by the 30-3 defeat they suffered at the Millennium Stadium two years ago which cost them not only a grand slam but the Six Nations title. “We have moved on from that having learned a lot,” said Rowntree. “We talked about it enough at the time and, while we have watched a lot of Wales this week, only snippets have been from that match.” |