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Luke Cowan-Dickie has spoken for the first time since his high profile Guinness Six Nations error versus Scotland resulted in his sin-binning and the penalty try which played a massive role in the 17-20 Murrayfield defeat suffered by England. Illegally flapping the ball into touch resulted in referee Ben O’Keeffe yellow-carding the hooker and awarding the Scots the score that pulled them level in the match at 17-all and they were then soon ahead by three points.
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In the aftermath of the defeat, Cowan-Dickie took to social media to tweet an apology to England fans who were upset at losing the Calcutta Cup encounter in Edinburgh. Last week, his Exeter club coach suggested it might be useful to seek out his player’s perspective about what had actually happened when the ball dropped from the sky from a Finn Russell crosskick.
“I bet if you asked him, there is a couple of split seconds in his head there where he doesn’t probably quite know what he has done,” said Baxter last Wednesday. “He has probably just been a bit reactive in a difficult situation that obviously won’t be commonplace for him, competing for a high ball out wide and it has just been one of those things.”
Since tweeting the post-game apology, Cowan-Dickie has kept his thoughts private on the Murrayfield incident where the bruising fall he sustained left him short on training time last week and relinquishing his hold on the England No2 jersey to Jamie George, who started last Sunday’s match in Rome against Italy.
Cowan-Dickie has since made an appearance on the latest RugbyPass Offload show in the company of Ryan Wilson and Max Lahiff and he reflected on the Murrayfield moment that left him in the firing line of fans with England losing that Six Nations opener.
“It was quite painful but I sort of knew it was coming,” said Cowan-Dickie about his awkward landing after he had climbed higher to get a touch on the ball ahead of Scotland’s Darcy Graham. “I don’t really know what happened. It was obviously the wrong decision at the time. I don’t understand and still thinking about it now, I can’t actually remember what went through my head at that moment and I fell to my arse and I actually struggled to sit down for a couple of days.
“I haven’t watched it back. I’m too ashamed to watch it back… I managed to get up (in the air). I think it was because I didn’t think I would get up high enough to catch it, you know what I mean? And when I was there it was a shambles.
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“Obviously, I was pretty depressed at the time. I saw a lot of abuse on social media. He [England boss Eddie Jones] put an arm around me and said, ‘Look, mate, you did what you had to do at the time’. He never had a go so he was pretty decent after the game. So were all the boys and the coaches to be fair. I’d probably have been pissed off if it was someone else.”
Reflecting on the round two England win over Italy, Cowan-Dickie added: “We won a Test match, that is the main thing. There was a lot of stuff on-field that went well and a lot of work ons which is perfect now this week when there is no game, we can have a look back at that sort of stuff. As you have seen there were a lot of good bits, a lot of bits we need to work on. We had a beer after and yeah, ready to get into it again this week.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
60 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
60 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
60 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
60 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
60 Go to comments