BACK AT THE COLEFACE

Dan's England redemption story a major positive for boss Borthwick

- ALEX SPINK

HOURS before the day he thought he would never see, Dan Cole was asked what he brought to the England team.

“Goal kicking, charm and good looks,” came the reply from the baldheaded veteran prop, only too aware what others might be thinking.

Cole had not played for his country since the 2019 World Cup final when England’s scrum, famously, was taken apart. Too famously for his liking.

For three and a half years, the Leicester tighthead assumed that was that and Eddie Jones did nothing to persuade him otherwise.

On Saturday all that changed. An hour into the Calcutta Cup, new England coach Steve Borthwick decided Cole’s Test career would not end on 95 caps.