Henry Thomas will be ready for World Cup, says Jason Leonard

He is not the heir to Dan Cole‘s tighthead throne yet but Henry Thomas has all the attributes to overthrow England‘s No.3 one day, says prop legend Jason Leonard.
Cole has been a virtual ever-present for Stuart Lancaster‘s England – no wonder the worry when he was ruled out of the Ireland clash.
David Wilson, returning from a lengthy spell on the treatment table, filled the shirt admirably – as he has often done – before allowing young Thomas his late cameo.
Wilson has quietly amassed 31 caps, competently playing second fiddle to Cole for a number of years.
Besides those two, the cupboard has been bare of late but Leonard, England’s most-capped player, expects Thomas to mount a challenge.
The likes of Joe Launchbury, Billy Vunipola and Owen Farrell are the young foundations on which Lancaster is building towards next year’s World Cup and Leonard said: “Do I think Henry will be part of that? Yes, I do.
“I can see him being part of the set-up for years to come and it can only be good for English rugby.
“It is always a tough one for a prop forward because obviously everyone is worried that you’ve not got enough experience. Well how do you get experience? You play the games – it’s a vicious circle.
“He got a couple of caps in Argentina and he came on against Scotland and Ireland – he is a fantastic player in the sense of the ball in hand.
“You can never say how quickly someone is going to develop but you can definitely see he’s got the talent there and I think that’s the big thing.
“I think the one thing with Stuart Lancaster, that has been great about this squad all the way through, is that he has brought on young talent – he has been consistent with that all the way through.
“He has committed to having a very talented young group of professional players for the World Cup in 2015.”
When Cole does make his return to fitness, he will still be the main stumbling block to any designs Thomas has on the No.3 shirt.
And Leonard believes there are few better tightheads in world rugby for Thomas, 22, to go up against and also to learn from.
“I think Cole has got to be up there,” he said. “He is a very competent player – his ability to get in on the ball and he has got a very high work-rate for a prop forward, especially a tighthead prop which tends to be more grunt than getting around the park.
“Looseheads like Mako Vunipola, Joe Marler and Alex Corbisiero tend to feature around the park more but Cole does a lot of that, too.
“He is up there with a lot of the guys in world rugby at this moment in time and it will be disappointing for him that this injury has come along at this time, with the World Cup being so close.”
Cole, who toured Australia with the British & Irish Lions this summer, has amassed 45 England caps since his debut in 2010, making him one of the current crop’s veterans.
He has been heavily trusted since Lancaster took the head coach role in March 2012, but Leonard is not convinced Cole’s injury setback is a result of such over-reliance.
He said: “You can’t foresee injuries – you can’t foresee what is going to happen – but it gives people opportunities. That is the other side of it.
“It has mostly been an accumulation of rugby and the injury that he has suffered, I suffered as well very early in my career.
“I actually had a ruptured disc, not a bulging disc, and it might not necessarily just be scrums. It could have been done in a tackle, it could have been lifting weights – there are a number of ways those injuries happen.
“Would you believe it, I know of players who have had bulging discs bending over to pick up their shoes.
“You can never tell when an injury is going to come and it is just a case that he comes back and he is better and stronger for it and I am pretty sure, knowing Dan, that will happen.
PADDY VON BEHR