Luke Cowan-Dickie resets for step up in middle Lions Test

Luke Cowan-Dickie. Picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Luke Cowan-Dickie knows the Lions landed a devastating blow on the Springbok pack to help win the first Test last Saturday. Yet the hooker is convinced it will take another step up if the tourists are to get the knockout they need to sink the world champions.

The Exeter front-rower helped turn the tables on South Africa after the British & Irish Lions trailed 12-3 at half-time, scoring the first try of the game from a well-executed driving maul in the 22-17 series-opening win at Cape Town Stadium. The Lions also turned the screw at scrum time as the Springboks’ much-vaunted Bomb Squad of bench forwards failed to continue the dominance enjoyed in the opening period by the starters they replaced.

It undoubtedly landed a psychological blow on the home side but Cowan-Dickie, who will hope to retain his starting place when Warren Gatland this morning unveils his team for this Saturday’s second Test, knows the forward packs will have to start all over again this weekend.

“Maybe they were not getting as much out of it as they wanted but next week is going to be completely different.

“They are going to be fired up again but I just think we know where we stand now. When it comes to the first scrum, the officials will be different so you need to manage them the way you come. We definitely have more to come in the scrum. We had a review earlier and there’s a lot of stuff we can fix which is exciting.”

Cowan-Dickie was not the first Lions player yesterday to pinpoint the second Test as the biggest game of the series and he explained: “We won the last game but the second Test is definitely the most important. It’s the middle Test and if we don’t perform this weekend… we know they’re going to give it their all. Depending on the result at the weekend, we could have a winning Test series or not, so the next game is definitely the biggest.”