England may have confirmed that Billy Vunipola is ready for their pursuit of a record-equalling victory against Scotland, but spare a thought for the one man who has never been away. Dan Cole is the only member of the squad to have started each of England’s 17 consecutive victories and considering the rate of attrition associated with tighthead props, it is a remarkable achievement.

It comes as little surprise that the unassuming Cole was unaware of his feat but it is perhaps more of one that he is yet to turn 30 and considers himself a fair way off his peak. Cole divides opinion: supporters point to his tireless work at the breakdown while critics lament his high penalty count. But he is unquestionably the cornerstone of Eddie Jones’s scrum. He may not go forwards with the dynamism of Kyle Sinckler, his feisty understudy, but Cole does not take a backwards step.

He is one of the fittest members of the squad – the petrol light starts flashing for some tightheads not long after half-time but Cole rarely makes way before the 70-minute mark. So what is his secret? “Doing the bare minimum and not touching the ball,” Cole quipped. “No, Eddie has put a big emphasis on a lot of recovery work after every training and that has definitely helped myself and a lot of other boys. That off-field focus of preparing your body right has been a massive part. As a front-rower your spine and hips take a big pounding so we do a lot of work with [the head of sports science] Dean Benton here and I think it is helping us all out.”

Benton took up his role in October and if Vunipola does go straight into Saturday’s starting lineup, he will no doubt be due a huge part of the credit. A former strength and conditioning coach with Australia, who has also worked with, among others, the Brumbies and Leicester, Benton earns glowing praise from Cole, who is uniquely placed to pass judgment on what has changed since Stuart Lancaster’s valedictory win over Uruguay was followed by 16 consecutive wins under Jones.

“Everything we do is aligned to the performance on the field and that’s where the turn [under Jones] has come,” he said. “Everything that has been brought in from Dean and the fitness team, that’s all been aligned to how we play. Dean has brought a renewed importance to what we do. There’s always been ice baths and that kind of stuff. Because we train very hard, you have to be able to recover to train the next day.

“It’s the importance of the relationship between training and recovery. That’s been emphasised. You’re knackered when you get off the field, but if you recover well you’re ready to go the next day. The potential of the squad was there. Eddie then came in with a clear vision of how he wanted to play and stuck at it.”

If Vunipola does add further ballast to England’s starting pack on Saturday – and the scrum coach, Neal Hatley, struck an upbeat tone when he said “Billy has done enough to prove he should be involved in the squad. It’s fantastic to have him back” – Scotland’s task of achieving a first win at Twickenham in 34 years becomes all the more difficult. Hatley continued to enthuse: “He is big. He is always Big Billy. He looks in real good shape.” For all that Vern Cotter’s side have impressed so far, their scrum remains their most notable weakness, with WP Nel nursing a neck injury.

“We’ve got to deliver a platform to play off but we’ve got to be able to control the game. Whether that’s scrummaging or playing away from the scrum,” Cole said. “We’ve looked at Scotland, we’ve focused on ourselves for the past 10 days because that first 40 minutes Italy-wise wasn’t good enough. But having looked at Scotland, they start their games quick and we can’t let Scotland establish themselves in the game, we have to be able to control that.”

Cole needs no introduction to Scotland – the side he faces on Saturday could contain as many as 10 members of the Glasgow team who beat Leicester 43-0 at Welford Road in January – but that does not serve as extra motivation. “You don’t have to delve into club history to find motivation,” he said. “There is a bit more to the game because it is the Calcutta Cup. It’s one you look forward to because there is a history to it.”

Asked to recall his first proper memory of the fixture, he settled on 2000, when England failed to claim the win they needed to seal the grand slam. “The one they lost in the rain,” he said. It may be for the best if Cole sticks to making history rather than teaching it.