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Dan Cole: Focusing on Leicester rebuild helps me not to dwell on World Cup final disappointment

Dan Cole -  Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
Dan Cole - Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

Dan Cole says that immersing himself in the Leicester Tigers rebuild has provided a happy distraction after World Cup disappointment with England.

Cole replaced Kyle Sinckler just three minutes into the final against South Africa 10 months ago and endured a torrid evening.

The tighthead prop, who had enjoyed an excellent tournament until that point, was penalised four times as Tendai Mtawarira dismantled England’s scrum and drove the Springboks to victory.

“I try not to,” said Cole on Tuesday when asked how he reflects on that 32-12 defeat.

“You probably get one chance in your life to take an opportunity [like that] and you don’t take it,” added the 33 year-old, speaking publicly about the loss for the first time.

“There are thoughts around that. [But] as we’ve found out recently, there are bigger things in life and that is the way you have to look at it and you have to get on with it. You find a way and you move on.

“You think about it, obviously there are some emotions around it. But you’ve got to move on. That’s not to say that at the end of my career I won’t look back and be more annoyed.”

The occasion marked Cole’s 98th Test appearance, his 95th for England to go with three more for the British and Irish Lions.

He was back in action for Tigers on November 30 against Northampton Saints and is grateful now for the raft of fixtures that will mark the Premiership’s restart following a five-month hiatus.

“Thankfully, at the minute, there is a lot more coming at us,” Cole said.

“I am doing a disservice to my team-mates if I am sat there dwelling on stuff that’s happened in the past or if I am somewhere else [mentally].

“One thing about sport is you have to deal with the here and now, as a player especially.”

On the verge of a new era under new head coach Steve Borthwick, beginning with a trip to Sandy Park to face Exeter on Saturday, Cole was frank about the “several reasons” for Tigers’ recent struggles.

“It slips here, it slips there, it slips everywhere,” he admitted. “We’ve had a lot of chopping and changing.

“We’ve probably relied on past glories, just thinking that pulling on the Leicester shirt makes you become tougher or that playing in front of 24,000 people makes you as good as the guys in the past.

“I think we’ve found out that isn’t the case. We’re starting afresh from the beginning, as individuals and as a club.”

Director of rugby Geordan Murphy clearly believes Cole still has a great deal to offer Leicester.

“There are 16 guys in a scrum and I felt that the criticism he received [after the World Cup final] was very unfair,” Murphy said.

“We would rate Dan, one versus one, as up there with any of the best in the world.

“Rugby is like that. In the big positions, your name gets tied to blame a lot. We were conscious to support him and we think we’ve got one of the best tighthead scrummagers in the world.”