When Fin Baxter was born, Dan Cole would have been preparing for his GCSEs. Now the unlikely doppelganger is planning to give England a platform to level this series with the All Blacks.
The age gap between the budding Test prop and the veteran is 15 years, give or take. Baxter has just made his debut, while Cole was making his 114th appearance for Dunedin – looking to equal Jason Leonard’s record as the country’s most capped male forward.
They are at the tail end of their careers but they are at least in contention to form a vital alliance at Eden Park on Saturday as England look to fix the scrum issues that contributed to their embarrassing one-point defeat last weekend.
Baxter got into action earlier than expected at Forsyth Barr Stadium in the series opener. Instead of being brought on as a replacement for Joe Marler in the second half, he was forced onto the field before the end of the first quarter.
His experienced Harlequins team-mate suffered a foot injury and will now miss the second Test, so Baxter plans to fill the void.
Prop Fin Baxter impressed on his international debut in England’s narrow defeat to New Zealand
The 22-year-old loosehead said he was ‘so proud to represent England and put in a good performance’
What was striking in Dunedin was how unaffected he seemed by the whole experience. The 22-year-old loosehead was presented with his ceremonial debut cap by Marler and was accompanied by his father, Ian, as he discussed the momentous occasion.
“I’m so proud to be representing England,” the rookie said. “I’m so proud to have done such a good job.”
Asked if it helped to be thrown into the maelstrom quickly, without time to think or worry too much, he added: ‘I think so. I just went with it. Those are the cards you’re dealt and you don’t have to think about them, you just have to do.’
His performance was very impressive in the challenging conditions, with a remarkable total of 16 tackles, plenty of carries, lots of strong work at the ruck and a dogged effort to deal with the pressure of set pieces.
“I wanted to keep moving, run as hard as I could, hit as hard as I could in the scrum,” he said. “And what about the carrying? ‘Yeah, I was happy with that.’
In all the commotion surrounding a close encounter, Baxter’s assured arrival was somewhat overlooked, but it was of great significance.
And in all the analyses of New Zealand’s scrum superiority, the impact of an untested debutant was largely judged as part of England’s struggle for parity in one of the most important battlegrounds up front. But he played well – really well – and it looked like he belonged.
Baxter (right) joined the experienced Dan Cole (left) in England’s attacking line in Dunedin as the duo looked to provide a platform to level the series against New Zealand.
Marler paid tribute to the club-mate who replaced him, telling Mail Sport: ‘He took to the Test arena like a fish to water. The baby-faced assassin never looked out of place on that pitch for a second.
“He’ll continue to learn the art of scrumming, but he has all the tools at his disposal. I’m looking forward to him backing up this weekend – and many more caps to come.”
‘Don’t be fooled by the baby face, behind that facade lies a real test player.’
A similarly positive assessment came from Baxter’s scrum coach at Harlequins, former Wales prop idol Adam Jones, who said: ‘He was outstanding. He made 16 tackles and had a lot of touches. He’s an exceptional rugby player.
‘In Test rugby you have to be able to stop people dead in the tackle and he did that. They will know about him now – they will have seen that young face and been shocked. His defending was outstanding.
‘If you know Fin, he’ll be frustrated with how the scrum went, but there were a lot of different factors on the other side. Hopefully he’ll be refereed better at the weekend.’
Cole (left) and Marler (right) have praised young Baxter’s debut performances for England
Jones questioned the legality of the way All Blacks loosehead Ethan De Groot got the better of Will Stuart, which in turn affected Baxter’s own scrum attempts.
“The opposition loosehead used questionable technique and the whistle only really blew when a scrum took place in the second half,” he said.
‘To be fair to Fin, if that happens at the other end and the loosehead steps out as far as he did and pulls the English tighthead back and to the left, then it’s hard for Fin to really do anything about it. He’s a smart lad and he’ll learn from it.
‘He’s up against one of the best tightheads in the world in Lomax. What Fin never does in the scrum is jump out – he never kicks his hips to the left and if it gets tough there he won’t stick his head out.
“If his feet are in the ground, he’s going to keep his feet planted and he’s going to get his head and neck under the tighthead’s chest. Then it’s a fight to see who goes back or who goes up. He’s going to stay in the fight.
“The scrums he had, he stayed in front of Lomax and didn’t give up. For his first Test match, against one of the best tightheads in the world, I thought he did exceptionally well. It was like he’d played 20 or 30 Test matches.”
Harlequin scrum coach Adam Jones said Baxter learned valuable lessons from his debut
Jones suggested the confident Baxter “will be fine” if picked to start at Eden Park – and he expects Cole to return to the starting front row to add his vital ‘nous’. The task will be to put the pressure back on De Groot and force him to scrummage legally.
‘Whoever the tighthead is for England, they need to tackle De Groot in the confrontation,’ added the mighty Lion. ‘I mean old-fashioned; go hard on his neck and the back of his head in the confrontation and get as much weight on him as possible.
“If he moves his head out like he did, it’s probably a sign that he doesn’t want to put his head under the tighthead’s chest.
‘England must therefore put as much pressure on De Groot as possible and compromise him before he compromises them.
“He was the aggressor last weekend so England need to be aggressive and let him scrum. Coley will come into his own if they do that.”