The Profile
The rugby career behind the headlines.
Dan Cole's England career started in 2010, looked like it had finished around 2019, and then restarted in 2023 when Steve Borthwick brought him back into the squad for the Rugby World Cup. Few players earn a hundred international caps. Even fewer earn them after a widely publicised international retirement. That second act is part of what makes his story unusual.
He is one of the most experienced tighthead props in the history of English rugby. He has a Premiership winners medal with Leicester Tigers, multiple Six Nations campaigns, and the kind of scrummaging reputation that made him a fixture in the engine room of the England pack across three different coaches.
The humour in his public interviews, the dry delivery, the willingness to poke fun at his own slow running and less glamorous playing style, have made him one of the more popular props on the speaker circuit in recent years. Front row is not a glamour position and Cole has leaned into that, which his audiences appreciate.
“The fans do not want to hear about the scrum. We tighthead props are the only ones who really want to hear about the scrum. It is a lonely specialism.”
Career highlights
- 100+ England caps
- Premiership champion with Leicester Tigers
- British and Irish Lions 2013, 2017
- Rugby World Cup 2023 quarter finalist
- Former Leicester Tigers captain
First hand
Dan Cole at Steam
Dan spoke at Steam in March 2025 as part of a three-man rugby panel with Ben Youngs. The front row stories are worth the price of admission alone.