"He's a phenomenal scrummager" – Luke Cowan-Dickie: England hooker expects Asher Opoku-Fordjour to earn 'loads more caps' after Test debut

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England added their newest cap to the senior ranks this past Sunday, as Asher Opoku-Fordjour made his mark after a long awaited call-up. Opoku-Fordjour entered the fray in the 55th minute against Japan, and packed down for an impressive outing on the tight-head of England’s scrum. Alongside the 20-year-old in front row was Luke Cowan-Dickie, yet the Sale hooker was far from surprised at the debutant’s set-piece skillset.

Cowan-Dickie and Opoku-Fordjour are teammates up in the North West, with the duo routinely linking up to battle against the best rows the Premiership has on offer. Cowan-Dickie was delighted to see his Sale teammate rise to the occasion, and is hopeful to see more of the same in an England jersey for the highly rated young prospect.

 "I've been with him all year. You know, me and him at Sale, and he's such a young guy. He's not the biggest either but he's a phenomenal scrummager, and I could definitely see loads more caps coming his way."

"It's always good having someone that you scrum with week to week and now in the international fold. So I feel like it will be nice working on things at Sale. I'm excited to get back, and then when we come back in here, it's a straight swapping, I feel like, because we scrum together on the weekly it's nice."

Cowan-Dickie was introduced off the bench in just the 47th minute against Japan, however the match was pretty much decided as a contest by that point. England took a 35-7 lead into the half-time break, and maintained their dominance over the Cherry Blossoms for the remainder of the match. However, this was not the first time that Cowan-Dickie had an early involvement off the bench, as he had been subbing in for his captain Jamie George around this mark for the previous Tests against Australia and South Africa.

The subsequent defeats to the Wallabies and Springboks got the England fans and pundits alike asking questions, around whether England have the on-field leadership to see out a win in the tough goings against tier one opponents. Cowan-Dickie ensured that there are amble leaders on the pitch at any given time for England, regardless of whether they hold one of the four vice-captain titles.

“Obviously, I get more game time, but I know we’ve got a lot of leaders on the field. A lot of natural leaders with not even VC next to their name. So, you know, I feel like the leadership, there’s loads of all over the field. So I feel like that’s not an issue for us. Yes, you know, sometimes front rows do need to come off. I feel like we’re rotating really well at the moment

“I feel like my performance is getting better each week. I’ve been out the fold for a while, and yeah, so now I’ve had a couple games. Yeah, I performing definitely better, and it’s really good to be back, especially scoring, just being involved and trying to perform and play well for the boys, it’s always good.”

Cowan-Dickie is firmly back in the England fold, after missing out on any on-field minutes in the previous Summer Tour of Japan and New Zealand. As a matter of fact, Cowan-Dickie’s prior involvement in the England squad before this Autumn campaign, pre-dates the Rugby World Cup and previous Six Nations campaigns. Injuries and a rumored move to Montpellier kept him on the fringes, with the hooker last involved during the 2022 Autumn Series in what was the tail end of the Eddie Jones era.

The hooker had to wait until the second round for his return to England colours, as he surpassed Theo Dan to the replacement hooker spot amongst the replacements. Cowan-Dickie and Dan are constantly bringing the best out of one another, in order to be the selected man to see out a match in replace of their skipper Jamie George.

“If I wasn’t in the 23, obviously I’d be disappointed. You know, disappointed. You know, there’s no big deal on my part, Theo is a phenomenal player. There’s good, there’s three of us at the moment, working hard in training and competing as hard as we can to make each other better. So I think the three of us are doing well at the moment, definitely.”

“You see the way we play with a lot more ball in hand and score more tries. So it’s really nice to be involved with the boys. You know, we’ve got talent all over the back-line, so it’s nice to be a part of. Like we e spoke about earlier with the scrum and maul, we get that going forward, and put us in good sted.”

The revised set-piece was certainly a strength of the England team, as Steve Borthwick’s men mauled over for four tries against Japan. Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie shared the scoring spoils with two tries each, with the Sale hooker hopeful to see his name on the scoreboard all the more times, as England prepare for the 2025 Guinness Six Nations.

“I think we’ve definitely taken strides forward in our scrum and maul, and it’s something we need to get back to because, you know, it’s always nice for a hooker to be off the back of a maul when you’re close to the line. So, but now we have been working on it, and it’s paying off.”

The post “He’s a phenomenal scrummager” – Luke Cowan-Dickie: England hooker expects Asher Opoku-Fordjour to earn ‘loads more caps’ after Test debut appeared first on Ruck.