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The four word tweet from England hooker Cowan-Dickie that has blown up
By Kim Ekin
Departing Exeter Chiefs hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie has taken to Twitter to share his thoughts with a four word tweet that has sparked heavy debate with his followers and rugby fans.
The 29-year-old, who is currently sidelined with injury and is expected to miss the start of England's Six Nations campaign, tweeted after Exeter's loss to the Bulls in Pretoria which was marred by a controversial red card to centre Henry Slade.
Shortly after Slade's red card, Cowan-Dickie tweeted out "how soft is rugby" which quickly garnered over 100,000 views as fans piled in to reply to the England hooker.
Cowan-Dickie didn't stop there however, happily replying back-and-forth with a few fans over his views in a welcome display of direct player-fan engagement.
Some of his replies were crafted with humour, as one South African fan hit out at Cowan-Dickie with "sour grapes" to which his response was "I don't like grapes."
A fan was prepared to bring up Cowan-Dickie's chop tackle technique, which some fans think is dangerous, but the reply by the Exeter Chief shut the fan down quickly.
He wrote with self-congratulating humour: "Text book I think they call it" with a green tick.
The England hooker showed no fear about getting into it with upset fans, responding to one complaint with "this for real?" before claiming a yellow was the maximum penalty under the current rules.
"It's to reduce head contact, something that will help you when you are older" another fan wrote, referring to the Slade incident.
Cowan-Dickie responded: "But the impact to the head was minimal as he hit shoulder first no? Again I agree rules need to be in place, I just feel it's too much at the minute"
One Bulls fan went at him about the Chiefs performance, calling them '"lucky" to be in the game and not "very good" to which Cowan-Dickie insisted he was making a general statement, not about the Chiefs-Bulls game.
The reaction to the Slade red card was generally critical with many believing it was not worthy of a red.
Former England international and The Rugby Pod host Andy Goode led the charge and labelled the call "ludicrous" and "never a red", which was a view shared by many fans.
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Latest Comments
I think the best 15 we have is DMac. Jordan at 14.
Go to commentsIt certainly needs to be cherished. Despite Nick (and you) highlighting their usefulness for teams like Australia (and obviously those in France they find form with) I (mention it general in those articles) say that I fear the game is just not setup in Aus and NZ to appreciate nor maximise their strengths. The French game should continue to be the destination of the biggest and most gifted athletes but it might improve elsewhere too.
I just have an idea it needs a whole team focus to make work. I also have an idea what the opposite applies with players in general. I feel like French backs and halves can be very small and quick, were as here everyone is made to fit in a model physique. Louis was some 10 and 20 kg smaller that his opposition and we just do not have that time of player in our game anymore. I'm dying out for a fast wing to appear on the All Blacks radar.
But I, and my thoughts on body size in particular, could be part of the same indoctrination that goes on with player physiques by the establishment in my parts (country).
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