Confident Cowan-Dickie targeting England place
DYNAMIC Exeter hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie has declared himself fit to underline his worth for England on this summer’s tour of Argentina.
Eddie Jones names his Red Rose squad this Thursday and highly-rated Cowan-Dickie should get the green light to prove his credentials, although Wasps’ Tommy Taylor, George McGuigan (Leicester) and Mikey Haywood (Northampton) are pushing hard.
Cowan-Dickie, right, who has battled back from ankle ligament damage suffered in October, told TRP: “Hopefully, I’ll get a chance in Argentina and that will be really good for me because it’s been a bit of a disrupted season with my injury.
“The Lions squad is going to be announced on Wednesday and with Dylan Hartley and Jamie George potentially being called up, that will open up England spots for the likes of me to go on tour and prove myself by playing well in that environment.
“There are a lot of good guys around in my position but I feel that I’ve been performing very well.
“My training load is being managed so I could be sharper, but my set-piece has come on a lot and I’m much more comfortable in the scrum and lineout.
“I’ve been around the wider England squad and the coaches gave me things to work on. They’ve been watching how I’ve been training and playing. I’ve been working as hard as I can to provide what they want. Hopefully, that’s enough.” While CowanDickie sweats on an England place, Exeter’s impressive league form since October has secured them a play-off spot for a second successive season. Doubts over their defensive resilience remain, however, with the Chiefs having conceded 47 tries in 19 games prior to this weekend. But Cowan-Dickie is confident that his side have what it takes to go one better after last season’s final defeat to Saracens. He said: “We’re in the position we’re in for a reason and although we’ve conceded a few tries, we’ve still come out with loads of bonus-point wins. “Getting a top-four spot is massive for the boys and we want to really drive that home now.”