Former England prop Dan Cole has revealed his concern that the current style of Prem rugby could leave Steve Borthwick’s Test side exposed in November and beyond.
The English league rejoiced that several scoring records were smashed across the opening weekends of the 2026/27 season. However, this attacking emphasis left the clubs defensively vulnerable in Investec Champions Cup round one.
Just one of the eight Prem clubs – league champions Northampton – secured a win and even that dour performance from the Saints was in sharp contrast to the polished way they had been playing in the league beforehand.
The Prem clubs return to domestic action next weekend and with Borthwick’s England set to restart their Nations Championship campaign with a November 8 clash with Australia at Twickenham, Cole admitted he was anxious that the international players haven’t been playing a Test-suitable style of rugby with their clubs.
“Does the Prem currently translate to international rugby? No.”
“The Prem, as it is, has not teed up the English teams particularly well,” he reflected on the latest episode of For the Love of Rugby, with co-host Steven Kitshoff. “We’ve just seen it – only one team won… so Europe is a different game.
“Does the Prem currently translate to international rugby? No. You look at the world’s Greatest Rivalry recently. Yes, there were some tries scored in those games, but it was attritional.
“South Africa kicked the ball, especially early doors in the first couple of Tests and beat New Zealand up. It wasn’t just ‘you score, I score’, which the Prem has kind of turned into a bit. You translate the Prem into international rugby, that’s not how it’s played.
“There’s jeopardy at every (international) breakdown, the way it’s refereed and the Malcolm Marx of this world jackaling. There’s not been that many turnovers in the Prem because the referees favour the attacking team and that kind of stuff.
“Is it a problem for England? Possibly because you go into the Nations Championship in the autumn and England’s players haven’t been playing Test match style… they haven’t been in proper Test matches in regard to the attritional nature we have seen in some of the games.
“I’m not going to say it’s a worry, but it’ll be interesting to see if the Prem continues sort of veering away and what international rugby does because, as we have seen, it’s not just basketball on grass. Not to say the Prem has gone that way but there has definitely been emphasis on attack in the Prem, which the fans wanted, but that is diverging from the international game.
“England have always been successful because the international game has been sort of structured and that suited the English game. Not saying the English game is now gone away from structure, but other teams are imposing it, so it’s something to look out for this season.”
Cole further elaborated on what he sees as the difference between the structured Test game and the ambition in the Prem. “Yes, you want the domestic league to try things out and tries to flow, but at the same time there has to be some form of jeopardy in regards to if I’m flippant with the ball and I lose it, the opposition will punish me.
“In Test matches you might get two opportunities in the opposition 22, you might get two lineouts. You have to take them because if you don’t take them, as we’ve seen at the top level, you lose the game whereas in the Prem, sometimes you can be flippant with the ball because you know you get another opportunity down the line.
“You’ll get another opportunity in five minutes, in 10 minutes or you’ll make something happen whereas that doesn’t happen (at Test level). The skill is one thing, but probably the mentality of how you approach games knowing that in international rugby it’s not miracle passes a lot of times that win the games. It’s just the basics done incredibly well…
“It’s we carry hard, we clear the breakdown, we rely on the individual brilliance of the players we’ve got, we put them in the best position we can – that’s how you play the game. It’s not sort of just, oh, I’ll have a go, I’ve messed up, but I’ll get the ball back. You have a go, you score. Oh, I’ll score, you score. It’s different and it’s the mentality thing that’s going to be shifted.
“Teams have been successful in the Prem, but it’s going to be a different thing going into Test matches. I’m not trying to be negative about that, but it’s definitely something if I’m an England fan, and I am, that I’m worried about moving into the Autumn Nations Series and beyond.”
With the URC winning three of its four Champions Cup matches against clubs from the Prem, retired England centurion Cole also weighed in on the age-old debate over which league is better.
“The Top 14 is the premier competition right now, but the Prem and URC, it’s always that debate between the two leagues because we have seen the Prem clubs struggle this weekend.
“But at the same time, a lot of them have sort of rotated players in and out. Some of the England boys were rested and not all the teams have been at full strength, whereas the URC teams have definitely targeted Europe and they can target Europe every year.
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“But at the minute you could say that the Leinsters of this world, the Glasgows are the better teams… I don’t know where the middle ground is with both leagues. There’s always that debate and I know I p*** off all the URC people because some people claim I deny its existence.
“I don’t at all, but just from playing in the Prem and knowing the England game, you back that. But the URC is strong and you have seen the results in Europe this weekend. Leinster got the job done at Clermont and they roll on.
“You backed Glasgow to go for this competition and seeing Connacht, what they did to Saracens. Again, a rotated Saracens team, but you have got to credit them and it is credit to the URC. I will give them their flowers this week. They definitely had a better week than the Prem clubs.”