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Luke Cowan-Dickie publicly apologises to England fans
By PA
Luke Cowan-Dickie has apologised to England fans after he conceded a penalty try to help Scotland retain the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield.
With England leading 17-10, Cowan-Dickie slapped a crossfield kick from Finn Russell forward into touch, denying Darcy Graham the opportunity to catch and score a probable try.
To add to England’s misery, the Exeter hooker was sent to the sin-bin before Russell added the decisive penalty to give Scotland a 20-17 victory in the Six Nations opener.
“Just want to apologise to all you supporters for today. I let myself and you guys down,” Cowan-Dickie said on social media.
“Every time I play for my country I want nothing more than to make you guys proud. Thanks for all the support. Looking forward to bouncing back next week!”
Eddie Jones insisted that England should blame themselves and not Cowan-Dickie after losing their opening Six Nations match for the third year in succession despite dominating play.
“Luke is disappointed, that happens in the moment. He played exceptionally well and he is very disappointed, but all the boys are supporting him,” head coach Jones said.
“We have only got ourselves to blame.
“We are massively disappointed that we lost and Scotland deserved to win.
“We dominated a lot of the game but didn’t get the points out of the domination.”
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Latest Comments
There are a number of commercial avenues that arise from having a draft. Draft day in itself is a large commercial event that draws huge revenues from broadcasters and sponsors.
The context you added is “rugby’s current interest levels” but I don’t see how interest levels wouldnt be stimulated by a draft if it was done correctly. We already have fairly robust player movement in Super Rugby - a draft is really just adding in some structure and showmanship to the whole thing.
Your suggestions for a draft make sense - I would set the pathways alongside the U20s programs (min age of 20) but I wouldnt cap it, I would also allow players to come from any pathway - club, university and provincial competitions.
Go to commentsI know JGP and Lowe never played for the All Blacks but they were both multi year super rugby players. At the time Lowe was closer to ABs but I’m sure JGP would’ve made it at some point.
Either way those examples are terrible. Born, grew up and went though a development system where they became professionals. The barrier to represent another nation should be higher. Maybe the 5 year rule stops it, let’s see.
With the stand down, wonder if you could make it tier 1 > tier 2 only for switching? I’m guessing that’s the whole intention rather then say Sotutu going to England or Hodgman going ABs > wallabies.
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