Luke Cowan-Dickie, who plays for both Exeter and England, will be unable to start the Six Nations tournament due to a serious ankle injury that requires surgery.
The 29-year-old sustained the injury during the second half of Exeter’s match against Northampton last weekend, and did not travel with the team for their Champions Cup match against the Bulls in South Africa. England’s Six Nations campaign begins with a match against Scotland at Twickenham on February 4th.
According to Exeter’s Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, “Luke’s injury looks relatively serious,” and more information on the extent of the injury and recovery time will be available after Cowan-Dickie sees a surgeon.
Baxter suggested, however, that the forward could return before the end of the current campaign.
“It does look like an operation is going to be required but that said, at this stage, it wouldn’t be a season-ending situation,” Baxter said.
“We could still see him back for a good chunk of the season if rehab and everything goes well.”
5 more England stars set to miss Scotland clash
#1. Henry Arundell (London Irish)
Arundell starred for Irish towards the end of last season, making a series of impressive displays for the club before making his England debut during the summer tour against Australia.
The 20-year-old was duly expected to play a more prominent role for the Red Rose in the Autumn Nations Series, but he was forced to sit that out and he could now miss the start of the Six Nations.
“He has had surgery on Monday and will be out for a number of weeks,” Kidney told reporters.
“The foot injury he got prior to the November Tests didn’t respond as we hoped and it was necessary to have surgery and he will be in a boot for six weeks and then we will have to see how he recovers.
“He has shown good healing powers in the past but it will be the New Year before he starts playing again.”
