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England Six Nations blow as 'very annoyed' Cowan-Dickie ruled out

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images)

Exeter have confirmed that Luke Cowan-Dickie will be sidelined for the start of the upcoming Guinness Six Nations with England as the hooker was meeting with a surgeon on Tuesday to decide what treatment is needed for his latest injury. The 29-year-old hooker’s Test career will come to an end later in 2023 when his post-World Cup move to Montpellier will leave him ineligible to be selected by Steve Borthwick.

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However, hopes that he would wield a significant influence on the start of next month’s Six Nations have now also been dashed after Exeter’s boss Rob Baxter provided an injury update from Pretoria ahead of this weekend’s Chiefs match versus the Bulls in the Heineken Champions Cup.

Cowan-Dickie was the starting hooker for three of the four England matches in November but last Saturday’s ankle damage in the Exeter win over Northampton in the Gallagher Premiership will now sideline him from the upcoming campaign that begins with the February 4 game versus Scotland at Twickenham.

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“It looks relatively bad, possibly requiring an operation. That is about as far as I can say, ” admitted Baxter during a virtually-held media briefing from the Exeter team hotel across the road from the Loftus Versfeld Stadium. “I believe he is seeing a surgeon today. The surgeon will then give an indication of exactly what happens but at this stage, we have got to say it is relatively bad.

“I don’t want to be kind of flippant and go it’s going to be ten weeks, twelve weeks, eight weeks. We are assessing that but you are not going to see him running around in the next three or four weeks.”

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Reflecting on how the injury happened in the second half last Saturday at Sandy Park, Baxter continued: “If you look at the mechanism of the injury it’s pretty awkward. He ends up kind of half-breaking through a tackle and someone is doing that classic falling on the back of his legs and it kind of ends up with his ankles crossed and one foot twists underneath him. It’s just one of those typical syndesmotic injuries.”

How has Cowan-Dickie reacted to this latest injury setback? “He was very, very annoyed on Saturday evening as you can imagine,” added the Exeter director of rugby. “I sat with him in the physio room with the medical staff, his ankle was swelling. Obviously, he was massively looking forward to coming over here, to experience being over here (in South Africa) with the club.

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“He was really looking forward to getting involved in a big game – the Heineken Cup means a lot to him. The truth is he is a really good guy who wants to have a big impact at the end of this season with it being the season where he is now leaving. A lot of that really bothered him but having said that, if there is a guy who can come back on time from an injury it does tend to be Luke.

“Don’t get me wrong, there is still a lot of the season left for him but immediately now we have got to get things done very quickly so we can get that rehab down significantly so that he doesn’t miss too much more of this season.”

Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg was also left behind in England to tend to the heel injury that has sidelined him from the Exeter XV since December 24. “Because we had to announce the group and wanted to make sure with the limited numbers we were as strong as we could when we came over here, he did a fitness test on Saturday pre-game and still couldn’t run at speed or couldn’t put any distance as his heel was still too sore,” explained Baxter.

“He will be doing a kind of rehab programme this week while we are away and as soon as he is heel feels comfortable enough he will be declared fit to play again. If you watched the last game he played he carried and stumbled and banged his heel. It was as simple as that. It’s not like a ligament thing, not like it requires an operation. It’s just a big bang.”

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J
Jon 2 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

21 Go to comments
A
Adrian 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

21 Go to comments
T
Trevor 10 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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