It’s important to savour sweet taste of victory
BUT TIGERS VETERAN IS NOT GETTING CARRIED AWAY AFTER IMPRESSIVE OPENING DISPLAY
THE galvanising effect Steve Borthwick has had following a turbulent period for Leicester Tigers has impressed long-serving prop Dan Cole.
A 12-day lockout due to a Covid-19 outbreak and the shock departure of director of rugby Geordan Murphy combined to provide far from perfect preparations for the opening round of the Gallagher Premiership last weekend.
But Tigers rallied in the adversity despite having just days together at their Oval Park training ground to earn only a second bonus point in 2020 with a 38-15 home victory over Gloucester in Borthwick’s first game in sole command.
It’s familiar territory for 33-year-old Cole, who was captained by Borthwick on the occasion of his first England cap more than a decade ago.
Borthwick has also coached Cole for England and on the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand in 2017.
“I expected Steve to be as organised, as committed and as consistent as he is which he has been, and, probably it has been more impressive in the way he’s managed to galvanise the squad as quickly as possible,” said Cole.
“We are on a path to improvement, Steve understands that, it’s not just talk, it’s actually actions which is good.”
Cole, who is set to make his 244th appearance against London Irish tomorrow, pointed to the clarity that Borthwick has brought in as he bids to turn the club around after successive seasons finishing second from bottom in the Premiership.
“It’s been brilliant,” he said. “Steve knows how he wants to play and how he wants to get there.
“As players we are trusted but we’re worked hard but that’s because there’s a goal in mind of where we want to get to.
“It’s great for us that 100 per cent of our focus is on playing the game.
“So everything else Steve can take care of, we know we turn up, physically prepare yourselves to train, you mentally prepare yourself for the opposition stuff and you try and get better every day.
“As players, that’s our job, we’re not worried about anything else, which is great.”
Cole conceded that not seeing fellow one-club man Murphy at Oval Park and Welford Road was odd.
But he did not attribute it as a motivating factor behind Tigers’ raucous changing room noise generated before firing into Gloucester from the first whistle to score three tries inside 22 minutes last weekend.
“I don’t think it was overly emotional,” he said.
“When you play rugby obviously there’s a certain emotional and physical state you have to get to, because you know it’s going to be a battle.
“You’re going to get ran into for 80 minutes.
“You need to have a certain state, especially within the forward pack, to go out there, but at the same time, you don’t want to be over cooking it so the first tackle you make is a high shot and takes someone’s head off.
There is that balance, but I think guys were excited to play, excited to get out there.
“We work hard on the training field, you want to play, it has been a while since we played and we want to play. “Especially at the start of a new season, with new players to bring in, you want to get on with it and that’s the excitement we showed.” Tigers players were photographed enjoying a beer in the changing rooms after the game.
While not getting carried away with one win to kick off a new season, Cole stressed the importance of savouring the sweet taste of victory. “One thing that I have learned in playing the game, victories are fairly hard to come by,” he said. “When you get one, you should enjoy it for 24 hours or so afterwards, which we haven’t been able to do recently, so it was good. “But, it’s one game, and our focus now is on London Irish. “We’re not getting carried away with ourselves, it’s one performance, at the minute you don’t know how good in some regards oppositions are or you are or anyone is because your form is one game.”