Dan Cole is to join up with England players for fitness tests over the next two days in a sign that he is in contention for a comeback in the Six Nations more than three years since his most recent international appearance.
The Leicester Tigers prop, 35, has not played for England since the World Cup final in 2019. But Steve Borthwick — who was the Leicester head coach until he was appointed by England to take over from Eddie Jones last month — has given the tight-head prop, who has been in fine form, a recall.
Cole is one of about 45 players attending one of two fitness-testing gatherings — in Liverpool today and Gloucester tomorrow — along with Ben Earl, the Saracens back row overlooked by Jones, and the Leicester centre Dan Kelly.
A full England squad will be named this month in readiness for the first game of the tournament, against Scotland on February 4 at Twickenham.
Cole has won 95 caps and went on two British & Irish Lions tours. In his previous Test he came on two minutes into the World Cup final against South Africa, after Kyle Sinckler was knocked out. The England scrum suffered badly in the game and Cole was not picked again, but he played a big part in Leicester’s Gallagher Premiership title win last season.
Advertisement
One man who can be sure of making it into the final squad is Owen Farrell, who headed to his first England camp under Borthwick after orchestrating Saracens’ demolition of Exeter Chiefs.
The fly half masterminded Saturday’s 35-3 win and showed his full range of skills, not always evident when he is shoehorned in at No 12 in Tests, as his side responded to their first league defeat of the season. Farrell topped his performance with a reverse misspass to set up Alex Lewington’s bonus-point try.
He was also part of the brains trust who ripped up Saracens’ game plan at the start of the campaign, with more emphasis on attack and less on the kick-chase, and they have duly won their first nine games of the season.
The next question is whether the Saracens way can be translated into an England way in time for the Six Nations. Farrell is adamant that there is more in the tank. “It is not a change of style, like going from one thing to something completely different,” he said. “It is just looking for more opportunity in what we did, and doing it better.
“It is a progression rather than a flip in style. Probably the tough thing at times is we got a lot back from it really early on in the season and we scored a lot of tries. The weather was good, and it is that time of year now when we have to keep making good decisions and that might be making different decisions to what we did at the start of the year.
Advertisement
“We might be playing a little bit tighter, you don’t know until you get there. We want to be ready for it all and ready to win a game in different ways. We have made some good steps at the start of the year but feel we have got a long way to go with it.”
Farrell, now 31, was one of a crop of youngsters who helped to lift the Premiership trophy with Borthwick as Saracens captain in 2011.
Alex Goode and Jamie George were also involved and the team who destroyed Exeter on Saturday — and who also included Nick Isiekwe, Earl and Hugh Tizard — could be the start of a changing of the guard and another dynasty in north London.
“We have got some unbelievably exciting talent at the club and the best thing about it is we have only shown a bit [of] what we can do, and we’re nowhere near yet,” Farrell said.
