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The 'such a rush' addiction that Theo Dan just can't get enough of
By Liam Heagney
Theo Dan has claimed he is addicted to Test match rugby after rounding off his maiden Rugby World Cup with a try-scoring appearance for England in their bronze medal match.
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The 22-year-old was an uncapped inclusion in Steve Borthwick’s training squad for the tournament but he will now head back to Saracens with seven Test caps and the ambition to do it all again when the international scene resumes in the new year with the 2024 Guinness Six Nations.
Dan featured in three Summer Nations Series matches and then went on to play four times at France 2023.
He also had the dubious statistic of being an unused sub for three England matches in succession – versus Samoa, Fiji and South Africa – but he was handed the No2 shirt against Argentina and thrived.
Even when he made a major mistake, slipping off a tackle and allowing Santiago Carreras to break into the 22 to score and give Argentina the lead shortly after half-time, he immediately bounced back by charging down a clearance kick from Carreras, regathering and scoring to catapult England back into a 44th-minute lead they were never to lose.
“There’s no feeling like it – it’s such a rush. The last few weeks for me have been a bit tough, watching from the bench for 80 minutes so to get on, there was 78,000, it’s such a rush playing in front of those crowds, especially against the Argentina fans, they are so passionate, so loud.
“I’ll go home with a bit more hunger to be involved in the Six Nations, to play in these big games because it’s brilliant to be part of them,” said Dan about Test rugby, going on to reflect on his try, charging down an out-half and score in that type of way for the first time since minis rugby.
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“I can’t even remember, it must have been during minis rugby. There’s a first for everything. It was such a rush, scoring for your country.
“For me, the main thing was I felt such an emotion of happiness because ultimately my missed tackle led to a try and it could have cost the team dearly so to be able to repay them with that, I was really happy with that.
“Every week I have been ready to come on. The way I see it I am at the start of my career, there are going to be plenty of opportunities in the future. Jamie (George) was playing so well.
“To be honest I don’t think it would have made much sense to take him off. He is such a big part of our pack, such a leader. I completely understand the reasons why I didn’t play those past few games.
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“You have got someone like Jamie, who I’d say is the best set-piece hooker in the world and he has been for years. So I know that I’ve got big boots to fill, moving forwards.”
Despite the 26-23 win over Argentina, emotions were kept in check as the bronze final wasn’t the fixture England wanted to be in.
“I was speaking to Ellis Genge in the changing rooms and probably looking back, our warm-up games we weren’t there at all. We were disjointed as a team, our performances weren’t good enough.
“So if you rewind the clocks two or three months ago and say you got a bronze medal, you’re third in the world, you go toe-to-toe in a game you probably should have seen out (versus South Africa), we would probably have bitten your arm off for that.
“But it is such a polarising emotion. We are obviously delighted to get the bronze, it means a lot to us, it means a lot to get the medal for everyone back home who supported us, to not come away from this World Cup with nothing. But ultimately, it isn’t the medal that we wanted.”
