Dan Cole labels playing for a women’s team ‘one of the five most awkward moments of my life’
Dan Cole at Rugby World Cup 2023 with England
Ex-England prop Dan Cole has revealed his difficulty playing second row for a women’s rugby team, branding it “one of the five most awkward moments of my life”.
The recently retired front-rower also recalled some of his most brutal experiences training on his own to be ready for the dreaded pre-season bronco run at Leicester.
Cole made his women’s team revelation on the latest episode of For The Love Of Rugby, the podcast he hosts with his former England and Leicester teammate Ben Youngs.
Joining the pair on this week’s show was Maud Muir, the England women’s team prop who is preparing for the Rugby World Cup later this month, and she was left amazed by Cole’s outing as a women’s team second row.
“I was the first draft pick…”
“I played in the second row for a women’s team,” he interjected at one point of the 40-minute show after fellow prop Muir admitted to playing lock on one occasion and that she didn’t like it.
“I would say it is one of the five most awkward moments of my life. We went on tour, U16s South Leicester, to Holland. We had a massive group, about 35 of us, and the team we were supposed to play didn’t turn up. So, there was a Belgian women’s team that needed a team to play against.”
Muir couldn’t believe what she was hearing, saying, “Sorry, surely this wasn’t allowed?”
Cole quipped: “It’s allowed, it’s on the continent, it’s liberal. And basically, then they didn’t have enough players. So we all lined up, and they obviously had a good scout because I was the first draft pick.
England EPS contracts: Five takeaways as Henry Pollock ‘hits jackpot’ while Saracens star ‘axed’
“I played in their team, but I got put in the second row and A, my head got crushed and B, the bind situation as a 15, 16-year-old kid, that was awkward.
“There isn’t any footage, but there is a picture someone online of me wearing the opposition kit, but you wouldn’t recognise me as I have got hair.”
Muir then asked: “So the women were in the front row, and you were in the second row?” After Cole said yes, she exclaimed: “Wow!”
“So yeah, I’ve played there, I feel your pain,” Cole continued. “My head got crushed. Yeah, second row is an awkward place to play.”
Eddie Jones: I inherited Rassie Erasmus’ Springbok laptop, I couldn’t believe my eyes
Now 38, Test centurion Cole hung up his boots following Leicester’s defeat to Bath in last June’s Premiership final. It’s safe to say he is enjoying summer without having to do pre-season training, especially the dreaded bronco.
“You have to train for a bronco; I always had to train. “I was never one who could just go and do it. I’d go to the park and do two or three broncos by myself,” he admitted about summers past, going on to recall two brutal experiences in the English heat.
“I remember getting to two and a half reps in. It was about 30 degrees, and I just thought, ‘F*** it, I’m stopping’. I did one in the dome at Leicester once, and my phone melted.
“It must have been about seven minutes into the third rep, and I was just like, ‘Oh, what’s the time? I have to leave’. It was 40 degrees in that dome.
“You know when your phone gets too hot and it goes temperature warning, I must have done two reps – I’ll say three – and I honestly couldn’t breathe as it was like a sauna. I looked at it [the phone] and it was melting. That was my excuse; I’m out of here.”
