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'It was not good to see' - Luke Cowan-Dickie injury scare for England
By PA
Luke Cowan-Dickie gave England cause for concern when he limped out of Exeter’s 27-23 victory at Wasps after rolling his left ankle, with Eddie Jones announcing his squad for the autumn internationals on Monday.
Hooker Cowan-Dickie, who started England’s last two Six Nations matches this year and two of the Lions’ Tests in South Africa, was treated on the field for three minutes before leaving it unaided having landed hard on his left knee after a tackle and catching his ankle awkwardly.
Exeter head coach Rob Baxter said the 28-year old would have his ankle protected by a moon boot before being assessed on Monday, adding that it was too early to say whether he would be fit for England’s opener against Tonga at Twickenham next month.
“It was not good to see Luke coming off because he is as tough as they come,” said Exeter’s assistant coach Ali Hepher. “We do not know anything at the moment and we will see how it settles down after the weekend.”
Exeter moved to third in the table with their third successive victory of the season, but they made hard work of it after talking a nine-point lead inside 25 minutes and looking comfortable.
“One of the things we have spoken about is not taking a breath and drawing back after we have put ourselves in a good position,” said Hepher. “It was something we lapsed into last season, not least the play-off against Sale and the final against Harlequins.
“We were disappointed with the way we played in the final 10 minutes of the first half and we talked about it during the break. The response was good: we showed a lot of fight and found a way to win. We are getting there after a slow start to the season but we have to back it up at the weekend against London Irish.”
Man of the match Sam Simmonds, who took his tally of tries to 10 in his last 10 Premiership matches, felt Exeter made it hard for themselves after taking the lead.
“We sat back, thinking it was easy, but we should have known this is a hard place to come after our last two visits here,” the number eight said. “They can attack from everywhere but we were happy with the second half, although we should have had a few more tries.”
Wasps head coach Lee Blackett suffered more injury woe when hooker Dan Frost, making his first start for the club, was led from the field after being treated for more than five minutes for a knock to the head.
“We have had a few new arrivals having suffered a number of niggles, but I could not fault the effort of the side,” said Blackett.
“They kept battling and while we conceded four tries, the defensive effort was such that it did not feel like that.”
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Latest Comments
Which people exactly?
Go to commentsWas anything but fine margins, the scoreline was flattering for that game. They were beat in every margin but most emphatically be effort of Argentina. They were slow and likely arrogant in their prep following the England series. You can see the effect on the selection and poor messaging all the playmakers started receiving from the coaching setup there after.
Otherwise though there was also a lot of really good stuff that can too easily be labelled as lucky by people intent on making a point. The team was far from certain and clinical though and the best that can be said of their losses was that they were largely due to some atrocious decisions with cards twice against SA and the neckroll last weekend (you can't take away the 14 point try, that is typical French rugby and to be expected).
This team is good enough to be able to cope with those sorts of difficulties if they could just execute a bit better (but only as well as they have traditionally mind you). Sound selections aside. Some good positivity in this article but we know it's not going to be easy as the ABs have just been trying to return to their DNA after Fosters control but countries like Aussie have a much bigger task in that respect and SA is even trying to change their DNA (again). Those two opponents (along with France obviously) are going to provide some tough competition in seeing who can lead into the 2027 RWC with the best prospects and form behind them.
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