In one solitary respect this England tour has issued a spine-tingling message to the rest of the rugby world. When Martin Johnson sat down to select his side for Saturday's second Test against Australia the first name on the teamsheet will have been a bloke scarcely known outside Leicester until six months ago. Dan Cole may already be the oldest-looking 23-year-old in professional sport but, fitness permitting, he could be around for years.
If half a dozen of England's next generation can settle in as quickly as the quietly-spoken tighthead, Johnson's life will be transformed. The Wallabies may be eyeing another spectacular win this weekend but lurking like a bull shark in the Parramatta River is young Cole, eyes narrowed and scenting blood. No English tighthead since Phil Vickery has commanded such widespread respect so early in his career.
It may be a different story, of course, when Benn Robinson and Ben Alexander are back from injury to bolster the Wallaby scrum but Cole, the son of an engineer who grew up in Newton Harcourt just outside Leicester, has a refreshing take on his chosen trade. How does it feel, someone asked, to be steamrollering an opposing pack? "Even when you're going forward your quads burn, your back hurts, your neck hurts, your shoulders hurt and your lungs are blowing. Your only hope is that they feel worse than you." It might just be the most honest summation ever given of life in a Test match front row.
Encouragingly, too, Cole is not the type to bask in his own publicity following the pushover in Perth. Admittedly the home side were still victorious in the first Test but there was only one winner at scrum time. This Saturday's referee just happens to be France's Romain Poite, a renowned front-row disciplinarian. It was Poite, ironically, who presided over Cole's messy destruction of his current international team-mate Tim Payne when Wasps visited Welford Road in January and the Australian front-row should expect no leeway from either the official or England's fast-emerging rock.
Cole is similarly aware the Wallaby scrum will do anything to avoid being roadkill for a second successive week. With the hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau ruled out of contention with an ankle injury, it seems Ben Daley, Saia Faingaa and Salesi Ma'afu will again have to take the strain and Patricio Noriega, the former Puma who is now Australia's scrum guru, has been vigorously attempting to repair the damage at Sydney's Victoria Barracks this week.
"They've experienced what we can do and I'm sure they'll focus mentally on being more aggressive," said Cole, who also acknowledges that England cannot be as one-dimensional as they were in Perth. "We care as a group that we only scored points off the scrum. We want to improve that and put things right. We're not bothered by outside pressure, it's more internal.
"The reality is that we lost and we weren't particularly good. We've looked at ourselves in the mirror and there's a much better performance to come out of us. We haven't shied away from the truth. The Australians were sharper and we were off the pace. There's no excuse for that. We know what Australia can do to us now and what they'll throw at us. We have to be more positive because we know they can score from anywhere. We've got to go out there, kick each other a bit and play hard from the off."
The Australians can already sense the possibility of a backlash. "It's just got to be ramped up again this week. The physicality of the England team, especially in their tight play was enormous," said the forwards coach Jim Williams. "The physicality that these guys play in the English Premiership and the Six Nations is just relentless and we need to make sure we meet that battle head on."
Putting more pressure on the Australian backs will also be an English prerequisite whoever is picked in England's starting XV. It would appear Courtney Lawes and Jonny Wilkinson are set for more prominent roles this week and there is an obvious case for starting with Ben Youngs at No9. It is not certain, however, that Johnson will axe Danny Care and the England manager will be unable to pick the Bath wing Matt Banahan, who has been banned for two weeks for a dangerous tackle on Berrick Barnes.
Banahan was the third England player to be cited in as many matches and, after two strike-outs, the judiciary has finally nailed somebody. As "lifting" tackles go it was far from the worst of its type but there is no great love of wrestling-style throws among the game's hierachy. The 23-year-old Banahan has been suspended until 30 June, also ruling him out of Wednesday's final tour game against the New Zealand Maori in Napier. David Strettle and Ugo Monye, the other midweek wingers, may just feel they have been left clutching the short straw.
