Dan Cole says series victory in Australia would be at least as memorable as the Grand Slam he shared with the England team this year.
“You look and Grand Slams come around once every 10 years or more,” says the Leicester Tigers prop. “We’ve never won in Australia so it would be a unique piece of history.”
Well England started impressively enough, even though they trailed in the first half in Brisbane. Perhaps even BECAUSE they trailed, the victory will have done every member of the squad a world of good.
In the second half, England were more clinical and pulled away for a memorable win. Cole was at the forefront in the pack as the tighthead imposed himself at scrum time. So much so in fact that the Aussies responded not on the pitch but with a media offensive about his body angles and supposed illegalities missed by the match officials.
You know you’re doing your job when the opposition resort to media warfare. And you know that Cole and national boss Eddie Jones will have shrugged it off, all in a day’s work. They’ve been around the collective block often enough to know the score there.
That England performance sets the tone for the rest of the tour but they will be braced for a Wallabies side targeting an immediate reply in the second Test on Saturday while also appreciating the quality of what their hosts did in attack last weekend.
Jones acknowledges that the Aussies generally bounce back well from disappointment; it is in their competitive nature. And he should know.
It provides all the ingredients for a massive clash on Saturday.
Cole and his club colleague Ben Youngs will be able to add the experience of winning a Test series in Australia with the Lions, in the hope of creating history in the Red Rose shirt.
“You look and Grand Slams come around once every 10 years or more,” says the Leicester Tigers prop. “We’ve never won in Australia so it would be a unique piece of history.”
Well England started impressively enough, even though they trailed in the first half in Brisbane. Perhaps even BECAUSE they trailed, the victory will have done every member of the squad a world of good.
In the second half, England were more clinical and pulled away for a memorable win. Cole was at the forefront in the pack as the tighthead imposed himself at scrum time. So much so in fact that the Aussies responded not on the pitch but with a media offensive about his body angles and supposed illegalities missed by the match officials.
You know you’re doing your job when the opposition resort to media warfare. And you know that Cole and national boss Eddie Jones will have shrugged it off, all in a day’s work. They’ve been around the collective block often enough to know the score there.
That England performance sets the tone for the rest of the tour but they will be braced for a Wallabies side targeting an immediate reply in the second Test on Saturday while also appreciating the quality of what their hosts did in attack last weekend.
Jones acknowledges that the Aussies generally bounce back well from disappointment; it is in their competitive nature. And he should know.
It provides all the ingredients for a massive clash on Saturday.
Cole and his club colleague Ben Youngs will be able to add the experience of winning a Test series in Australia with the Lions, in the hope of creating history in the Red Rose shirt.
