Dan Cole is struggling to overcome a foot injury and is unlikely to be fit for England’s opening game of the Six Nations against Wales next month.
The tighthead prop missed most of last year with a neck injury before returning to first-team action in November. But he was forced back on to the sidelines after spraining his foot in Leicester’s defeat of Sale, the team against which he had made his comeback, during the festive period.
Richard Cockerill, Leicester’s director of rugby, warned Stuart Lancaster not to rely on Cole or the centre Manu Tuilagi for the start of England’s Six Nations campaign. “Manu and Coley are probably still end of the month at this point,” Cockerill said. “They may well be fit for it [Wales v England] but whether they will be match fit I don’t know. We will see.”
Lancaster has a number of big calls to make in the front row as England build towards their home World Cup later in the year. Cockerill believes Tom Youngs is in pole position to anchor the front three against Wales on 6 February after his performance in the 17-8 victory over Bath at the weekend.
“If there is a better hooker in England after the weekend I don’t know who he is,” Cockerill said. “Tommy has been outstanding for us.
“If [Bath’s Rob] Webber has any pretensions of playing at Test level in front of Tom Youngs, you saw at the weekend the difference: the ball-carrying, the mentality, the mauling. Tom is a different league, for me, to [Dylan] Hartley and to Webber.”
Hartley’s disciplinary problems, including a red card for elbowing against Leicester last month, are his achilles heel but England’s lineout has prospered with the Northampton man in the side.
“Tom’s throwing is as good as anybody’s,” Cockerill said. “I have got no qualms about that. Hartley has more poor days at the office than Tom Youngs.
“Tom Youngs’ discipline and attitude to physicality is right on the line. It is not over the line, it is not under the line, it is right on it every time he plays.”
The Championship club Bristol have signed the former England wing Tom Varndell, who will join them from Wasps on a two-year contract at the end of the season. Bristol are favourites to win their division and secure a Premiership return.
The 29-year-old Varndell won four England caps between 2005 and 2008 and is second to Sale’s Mark Cueto on the list of Premiership try-scorers.
Wasps have offered Andy Goode a coaching role next season after signing the New Zealander Jimmy Gopperth from Leinster as his replacement at fly-half. The Wasps’ rugby director, Dai Young, said: “We would love to keep him involved with Wasps and have offered him a coaching role. His ability to analyse the game is first-rate and when you see him around the club it’s easy to appreciate how much he is respected by the players and the coaches. Andy has already shown his coaching potential alongside our A-team coaches and we would like him to join the senior team. He is keeping his options open and considering a variety of offers elsewhere, which we fully understand.”
