'50 Not Out' - Luke Cowan-Dickie: England hooker 'never thought' he'd achieve Test cap milestone

One of the stories of last Saturday, was the milestone England appearance for Luke Cowan-Dickie in the Autumn Series win over Australia. It has been an arduous road to 50 Test caps for the hooker, as multiple neck and shoulder injuries disrupted the course of his international career.

Cowan-Dickie made his England debut a decade ago, in a Rugby World Cup warm-up match against France ahead of the home-hosted tournament. Having witnessed the end of Stuart Lancaster's time in charge of the side, and ridden out the entirety of the Eddie Jones era, Cowan-Dickie is now 32-years-old and enjoying a rejuvenated return to form under England head coach Steve Borthwick.

A stalwart of the West Country, Cowan-Dickie's break-through is well documented as an Exeter Chiefs main-stay, before the hooker made the decision to depart Devon after 12 years in 2023. The projected move was out to France, which would in turn have ended his England career, yet his perceived destination of Montpellier were unhappy with his pre-signing examinations, with a problematic neck injury preventing Cowan-Dickie from heading to the South coast of France.

With his contract up at Exeter amidst a mass end-of-season exodus, Cowan-Dickie promptly found a new home with Sale Sharks as his England career stayed alive. Now the recipient of a 50th cap accolade, Cowan-Dickie recalled after the win over the Wallabies, how he never expected to achieve the milestone.

"It was a weird one. We had a little chat in the changing room after, and I got my 50th cap. It’s one I never thought I’d have, and my missus and little man were in there, which made it really special. I said it in there, but I’ve put them through absolute hell, and for me rugby has been my life from day one, and it keeps you away from your family for quite a bit (of time).

"It’s quite emotional sometimes. I told my little man I had to shower and speak to the media and he started crying as he thought I wouldn’t see him again for the next week. It’s quite tough, but wearing the shirt means everything to me. Hopefully I can wear it for years to come."

"It was good. It was a weird one. You want your 50th to come, but as soon as it comes you sort of want to get it done. It was a big build up, and I was trying to not make it a big deal, but obviously my body made it more of a big deal than it was, as I was quite nervous. We’ve come away with a good victory so it made it special for me."

Cowan-Dickie was unleashed for his 50th cap after as many minutes had elapsed between England's opening Autumn clash against the Wallabies. The hooker was apart of Steve Borthwick's resident 'Bomb Squad' as along with fellow Lions Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, Tom Curry and Henry Pollock, the quintet exploded onto the pitch and blew apart the tiring Australian outfit.

"Well, we haven’t used that phrase [Bomb Squad]. My involvement in the team is whatever Steve wants me to do. If I’m a traveller [reserve], then I’ll travel and prepare the team as well as I can. If I start, I start and if I’m on the bench, I’m on the bench. The good thing we’ve got is that everyone buys in. Everyone has a role in the team if you play or not. That helps, especially this week. We trained and prepared the best we can, and that showed today."

"It is tough because like I said, it's my 50th [cap], and then we're coming off the bench, you do take a moment to take it in. But it's nice, you're coming on to add to the team. Hopefully I feel like we did add, and that's the whole point. Part of our job was to try and bring some more energy onto the field and I felt like we did that."

Even upon the magnitude of a milestone England apperence, Cowan-Dickie was able to keep the best part of his emotions under wraps. The Sale man explained how he does not take it personally should he take a seat amongst the replacements, with the modern role of the 'impact players' as important upon the Test stage as those who start off the match. Cowan-Dickie capped off his landmark fixture by grounding a devastating rolling maul, which left the Wallabies depleted in defence.

"In the past, or in previous teams, if boys don’t start they get down and vice versa. I’ve never really had that mentality thankfully. The boys can’t have that feeling now, as for example the guys that didn’t play today out-trained us all week. You would’ve thought they should have trained, rather than us. The buy-in from the squad has been mental."

"I try to stay as relaxed as possible. On the bench you have to gee up the boys as much as possible, and then it’s a sort of switch off for me. I’m lucky enough that I can go from relaxed to ready to go pretty quickly. For me personally it’s being as relaxed as you can, and when you come on you have anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute to get ready anyway, and from that point I can get ready to go."

"It’s always nice scoring a try. The result is the main thing at the end of the day. If I can add points to the scoreboard, then I’m buzzing."

The 25-7 victory over the Wallabies marks an eighth consecutive win for Steve Borthwick's side. Such a statement of intent is certainly getting noticed as the Autumn Series kicks into top gear, with Cowan-Dickie excited to see the side continue to build ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup draw this December.

"Most people are outcome based and I think most teams need to be like that at the end of the day. I spoke about in the week, no matter who you're playing, you're playing to win, you want to win, you expect to win. I feel like the way we've prepared the last few weeks, we've had tight losses in the past which could have went either way and I feel like this team we've got now is building.

"Today was a great result for us. Obviously last year this time wasn't a great result. So I think we're just happy that we're building. Obviously we've got Fiji next week and we'll prepare no different, probably be harder again, and hopefully another good performance."