COLE HAS HUNGER... TO SHINE

DAN COLE’S summer fitness camp paid dividends as he rolled back the years to help Leicester gain local bragging rights over Northampton.

The 35-year-old prop (above) watched his weight during the break, had a plan mapped out by Tigers’ head of physical performance Aled Walters and is in the form of his life.

Cole is unlikely to be picked today for England’s latest training squad, but the veteran insists he has got plenty more in the tank. “I just tried not to eat too much,“he said.

“Aled sends out plans in the off-season and it’s about managing yourself. It’s physically tough, but it works because we’ve got guys in the team pushing 40 – like Jimmy Gopperth and Richard Wigglesworth.”

Cole dished out a lesson in front row play to Saints who were hamstrung by three yellow cards and put out of their misery by Freddie Steward’s hat-trick.