'He's basically going around giving stick to every injured player'
Luke Cowan-Dickie was forced to miss the Autumn Nations Series with England due to a significant ankle ligament injury, but Exeter boss Rob Baxter has reported that his hooker is now back and firing at his best following his inclusion in the 36-strong national team squad that will assemble in Brighton next Monday for a week’s training.
The injury arrived at an unfortunate time for the 28-year-old. Having played second fiddle to Jamie George for numerous years, he claimed the No2 England shirt on merit during the 2021 Six Nations and he went on to eclipse his fellow Englishman when they pair subsequently toured South Africa with the Lions.
With George then omitted from the original England squad for the Six Nations, the way was clear for Cowan-Dickie to consolidate his newfound status as the first-choice hooker. However, injury with Exeter in the Gallagher Premiership resulted in him having to pull out, a development that allowed George to get a recall and go on to start the games versus Tonga and Australia.
Cowan-Dickie, though, put his layoff to positive use at the Chiefs and Rob Baxter this week enthused about the attitude of a player whose vibrant energy came in handy in helping Exeter to overcome some early-season inconsistencies and enjoy some welcome good form in recent weeks.
“He is flat out again now,” reported Baxter regarding Cowan-Dickie, the Exeter forward who is one of three hookers in the latest England squad alongside George and Jamie Blamire, who took the starting short for the series-ending finale versus South Africa in November.
"We are trying to build a team that is capable of doing that…"
– Eddie Jones reckons he knows what will prove most decisive in the upcoming Six Nations title race#England #SixNationshttps://t.co/1QA3wuhvRa
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 22, 2022
“He actually used his injury period to restrengthen a few things. He lost a little body fat, gained a little bit of muscularity which is harder to do when you are playing, so he looks in great physical shape. He has certainly recharged his energy and emotional batteries and he looks like a really interesting character. When he is injured in the last two, three weeks of his rehab he is basically going around giving stick to every injured player telling them why aren’t they on the pitch playing because has got a proper injury and they are just dragging it out and they have just got a sore toe or something like that.
“He is actually quite a good person walking around the changing room telling people to get on the pitch and train because if he wasn’t injured he would be. And sometimes those kinds of things, you start to feel restless energy from him at the end stage of any injury rehab and that means he is virtually nearly always ready to go.
“Within a week of being declared fit and in full training he is pretty much banging down the door asking me why is he not being picked and why wasn’t he picked two weeks ago. He even walks past in a plaster cast sometimes thinking I’ll be available this week if I can get this taken off on Wednesday. That is how he is and that kind of vibrant energy is what you want around a rugby club. It brings everybody through and that is the thing he just adds around the place.”
One thing that England boss successfully did for the autumn was to bolster the senior leadership group around skipper Owen Farrell. Courtney Lawes, who wound up being the matchday skipper in Farrell’s absence against Tonga and South Africa, Ellis Genge and Tom Curry were chosen as vice-captains and but for his injury, Cowan-Dickie would have been included in this select group who set the standards during camp.
That, reckoned Baxter, would have been a just reward for Exeter front-rower Cowan-Dickie in “rounding off the package” of what he brings to a squad. “There is a lot of things about it that just make it [leadership] quite natural for him. He is actually quite a natural leader in a lot of ways around the club for years and has been in certain elements.
“But what you are seeing is it is becoming more across the board. The whole thing about leading a group to see things in a certain way, moving forward now that environment needs to be created in training as well and across other elements that are outside the game because one thing you can always say about Luke is he has always been a match-animal, it has always been about the game and his performance levels have never wavered in a game.
“His full-blooded commitment in every single game has never wavered. He would admit himself he has not always been the archetypal professional off the field in giving himself the best chance to be the absolute best player he can on the field and those are just some of the things that just evened out as he matured as a player and become more experienced, and that is what has started to round him off as more of a leader.
“He has still got that natural, aggressive leadership, ‘C’mon, we are going to go out there to fight for this’ type element about him as well, but if you want to lead like that then you have got to set examples in other things that you do as well. That is what he has got, he is just rounding off the package.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments