Luke Cowan-Dickie takes up a game of darts in the Sale Sharks team room and stands in front of the board. He has an unorthodox stance, with both feet facing forward, almost as if he were throwing a lineout. He shoots straight at the target. One shot, one dead.
“It’s easier to choose the target point for the darts because it’s stationary,” he explains, shaking off the pain in his right arm.
‘However, the release point is similar. If you’re throwing with form, you release early. If you’re throwing flatter, you release later.’
Early last year, Cowan-Dickie barely had the strength to lift a dart, let alone throw it. The pain around his arm is the result of a career-threatening injury that required surgery on his C5 vertebra to relieve nerve damage.
‘My shoulder burns when I play darts too much; I feel it in my deltoid. I had decompression surgery on my vertebra.
Luke Cowan-Dickie aims for play-offs with Sale and a call-up to the England team
‘When you keep getting compressions from all the big hits, the hole in the bone that the nerve passes through becomes narrower and narrower. They had to shave it so the nerves could go through it again, opening it with a small drill. The nerve that supplied the muscles in my shoulders and biceps effectively died.
‘When I first woke up from the operation, I was quite high from the anaesthetic. The surgeon asked me to move my arm and I couldn’t… I think he thought I was taking the mick. There was a two percent chance that I would wake up with a lack of movement and I was in that unlucky percentage.
‘None of my muscles were working for at least two months. I couldn’t move my arm, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t do anything.
‘Looking back, it was pretty crazy. The general rule of thumb is that you regain 70 percent of your strength in nine months. With me it took a little longer. It takes up to two years to recover 100 percent.
‘It’s much better now. Strength-wise, it’s improving and my arm is getting a little more bulk. If I say that throwing darts helped me get fit, maybe they’ll invite me to play in a league!’
Moving to a table in the corner of the room, Cowan-Dickie reflects on the Six Nations campaign he partially missed due to an irregular heartbeat.
The hooker is not content to end his England career as a roaming reserve, darts player
He was put on a monitor for five days before he was given the all-clear. Returning to the role of roaming reserve, understudying Jamie George and Theo Dann, he found plenty of time to play darts.
Freddie Steward is a big fan of darts and we traveled together as reserves for the last few games. He’s a little more relaxed when you’re not on the 23rd. I’m used to the traveler role, but Fred hasn’t really done it before. As Fred played well against Wales and then traveled the following week, I wanted to help distract him. We only had one board and it was always free after everyone had gone to bed, so we did some competitions.’
Cowan-Dickie, now 30, is not content to end his career in England as a darts player and roaming reserve. He has signed a contract extension at Sale, keeping his England ambitions alive until 2025.
His move to France last summer was canceled due to injuries, but he has since reconnected with a hunger to get back to the forefront of Steve Borthwick’s plans.
‘I have signed for one more year. I’ve had a pretty average performance at Sale since I arrived in the summer and they looked after me when I was in a bad place. My arm is getting better and I hope I can perform better now to thank you.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve recalibrated my goals, but staying here keeps the door open for England. Getting back into the Six Nations set-up has shown me that everything happens for a reason. We only go up from here; the way it worked out is perfect .
Cowan-Dickie, 30, is determined to return to the England team.
“Before it was all a bit of hot air and England wasn’t really on my mind because of all the injuries. He hadn’t played for most of the year. Playing for the Lions in 2021 was probably the most fun year of my career. It lights a fire knowing that I can get back to that level.
“As much as it makes me happy to see the boys win, I couldn’t sit here and lie to you and say I don’t want to be in the 23 again. Of course I want to get back into the England team, but until I start acting in Sale, I don’t “I think I justified it. I hope to get some playing time under my belt and perform better on set.”
Cowan-Dickie has settled into life in the northwest, a six-hour drive from Penzance, where his grandmother, Ruby, used to take him to play darts at Astro Park. “She also pitched quite a bit in front… very crazy.”
His father, Adam, a trawler, delivers a few kilos of hake from time to time and today the family will have their eyes on the AJ Bell Stadium, where the brave hooker will face his childhood club, Exeter.
“Playing against guys I played with for so long will be a little strange, but it will probably give me some motivation.” Jack Yeandle lived next door to me, so I’ll definitely get a little closer to his ear. I could grab him and elbow him in the ribs a couple of times!
However, there is little room for sentiment. Sale have suffered four consecutive defeats in the Premiership, so a winning streak is essential if they are to make the play-offs late. His English stars are back in the picture and Cowan-Dickie hopes his experience will get the team back on track.
He signed a new one-year deal with Sale Sharks after turning his back on France.
“We have to treat every game like a play-off because we need wins to be in the top four.” I have been in situations like this before and you have to overcome them. Losing never makes anyone happy but we still have good energy and are training well. When the mood is shit, things get out of control, but we’re not too worried. When we get that performance, it will move forward.
“You may not have seen it when we lost to Bath last week, but I feel like the break has been good for us. A few lads have come back from injury; we’ve got George Ford and Manu Tuilagi back from England. When we get some time together in the saddle, we will definitely improve.
‘Having someone like Fordy, he’s very good at telling you what he wants. Although he doesn’t join darts, I don’t think he could handle losing to a Cornish man.