England want to ‘speed up’ Luke Cowan-Dickie’s recovery from ankle surgery

Luke Cowan-Dickie is seeing a specialist on Thursday to assess his recovery from ankle surgery, which England want to ‘speed up’, while Exeter are unsure if he will play for them again.

The 29-year-old Chiefs hooker sustained severe joint damage during a Premier League clash with Northampton in January and had an operation which meant he missed the Six Nations. His club are desperate to speed up his rehabilitation so he can return before moving to Montpellier in the summer, and his country is desperate to make sure he is fit for a training camp ahead of the World Cup. World.

Asked for an update on Cowan-Dickie’s progress, Exeter’s director of rugby Rob Baxter said: “He will have an assessment today, which will give guidance on how the injury is coming back. I think he has another (assessment) in a few weeks. The RFU are also looking into various things to see if there is anything they can do to speed up his recovery, as they are concerned about the World Cup.

“It’s all pouring into him and I’m kind of sorry for the guy because he’s like a live experiment for everyone, really! He’s desperate to get on with things too. He’s in a recovery period and there’s nothing to say Definitely here and now that he won’t be fit at the end of the season, but there’s also nothing to say definitively that he will be.”

Baxter dismissed any suggestion that the Lions’ painstaking rehab program for his front line has stalled, emphasizing that it just requires patience. “The issue right now is nerve recovery and for any type of nerve damage and recovery, that just takes time,” he added.

England are concerned that Cowan-Dickie (left) is not fit enough to play in the World Cup

“There are some where a surgeon or a specialist might say, ‘This is the best thing to get,’ but that’s pretty rare. Mostly they look at it and say, ‘This has improved since we last tested it, six weeks ago, so we’re still on an improvement curve.’ That’s where Luke is right now; on an improvement curve.

‘What has to happen is that that curve has to be maintained, so that he is back in top shape. Where you stop off that recovery will determine where you end up on your fitness path. So it’s not necessarily a plateau, it’s just that time has to pass.’

There is no question about Cowan-Dickie’s motivation to get through this difficult period and return to playing for the Chiefs. Baxter painted a picture of a player who is a lot of pent-up, loud energy behind the scenes, saying: “There’s nobody at the club who wants Luke Cowan-Dickie to be fit more than I do, because when he’s walking around, there’s a Absolute nightmare when he’s not playing!It’s bad enough when he’s playing!

“Sometimes all you can hear in the club is Luke, just yelling at the physios to move on to the next session or get on with this or that, or he’ll call one of the S&C trainers to work with him.” . He’s like a caged lion right now, prowling around, trying to get on with things.

“So 100 percent if he can get fit for us before the end of the season and before the World Cup, he’ll be flying.” There are plenty of good reasons to bring him into shape because he will fly at it with utter abandon. That part is definitely.

The 29-year-old may not play for Exeter again as he moves to Montpellier in the summer.

“He doesn’t go around saying ‘poor me’, it’s almost the other way around. If he’s going to bounce back quickly, it’s that part of his character that will drive him more than anything else.”

Montpellier is the visitor at Sandy Park on Sunday for a round of 16 meeting with Exeter in the Champions Cup. Sam Simmonds has signed to join the French champions after this season, as has Cowan-Dickie, and Baxter anticipates no threat to that move despite the serious injury that has marred his last season at Devon.

“Montpellier has not been in contact with us,” he said. ‘I don’t know the status of your contract with them, I don’t know the clauses of it. That’s not for us to get involved. I saw it this morning. I know you’re going to see a specialist today. I wished him the best.

I don’t think anyone is thinking the move is out of line. I think everyone thinks that Luke will make a decent recovery and be ready to play and be a very good player. That is the prevailing sentiment at the club and we have not had any indication that this is going to change.