Dan Cole: England have no world class players
Sunday 21 February 2016 12:54, UK
Dan Cole admits England have no players who would make a world XV - but insists there is strong potential within the squad.
Coach Eddie Jones commented earlier this week that returning wing Manu Tuilagi, who has previously been categorised as 'world class', does not deserve to be classed as such because he has never been selected in a global team.
And that is an assessment front-row forward Cole agrees with, although he feels some members of the squad can reach that level.
"You look on form and there are arguments in certain positions but I would say there are no stand-out individuals in our team that would make a clear World XV," the Leicester prop told The Independent on Sunday.
"But there is potential and there are a lot of quality players that can make the next step to the world-class level and be a very good side."
England have made a good start to the Six Nations campaign, winning in both Scotland and Italy, but a sterner tests awaits them in their next assignment in the competition when they face Ireland at Twickenham.
The first two results under Jones have been good but Cole accepts England under Jones remain a work in progress as they bid to restore some of the aggression which was the hallmark of their 2003 World Cup triumph.
"We are progressing," said Cole. "Eddie wants to go back to the traditional English rugby of 2003 and before that. I think he understands it is a work in progress. Scrum-wise we improved from Scotland to Italy but line-out-wise I don't think we did.
"Ireland is going to be big, they have got a very good line-out with people like [Devin] Toner in the middle of it, and the way we performed against Italy won't hold up against them. So we are really on to that.
"There are a lot of new players in the Irish pack, and if you take out Paul O'Connell, who is a legend of the game, it is probably not going to be as strong.
"In Paris, the French pack got stuck into the Irish in the second half. But I am sure the Irish will come prepared for a physical battle and have something else to make us think."
