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The night after the final Lions Test in Sydney, Luke Cowan-Dickie went back to his room and ordered a takeaway from Deliveroo. Burger, fries and a milkshake. Opting for a chilled evening at his hotel, the 32-year-old left the younger members of the squad to cut loose around Circular Quay.
Cowan-Dickie gave up alcohol 17 months ago, but he still enjoys the morning debrief after a big night out. In this instance, he woke up to hear how his team-mate Alex Mitchell had caught an Uber to the city’s ‘other’ InterContinental in the early hours.
‘There are two hotels in Sydney with the same name,' Cowan-Dickie tells Daily Mail Sport. 'At the end of the night, Mitch got a taxi to the other one… where the Wallabies were staying! That was quite funny. There was a fun bit of wrestling in the team hotel around 3am, too. But nobody mucked up too badly!’
Many of Cowan-Dickie’s memories of the 2025 tour unfortunately arise from the golf course not the rugby pitch. He was concussed during the last warm-up game in Adelaide, ruling him out of the first Test. He could not force his way in so didn't play for the final three weeks of the tour. But he still loved the experience.
‘The Lions was mega for me,’ he says. ‘With my injuries over the last few years, I thought my chances of going were pretty slim, so I was buzzing to be selected.
‘I was playing well out there but getting knocked out screwed me a little bit. I wasn’t able to play for 12 days out of the last 20. I was fit to play in the second Test but I obviously wasn’t selected.
Luke Cowan-Dickie is back at it with Sale and will return to action on Friday night against Newcastle Red Bulls
'The Lions was mega for me,’ Cowan-Dickie tells Daily Mail Sport's Nik Simon. ‘With my injuries over the last few years, I thought my chances were slim, so I was buzzing to be selected'
His summer Lions tour was less than eventful though after concussion put paid to his hopes of making a Test appearance
'It was a weird one. They kept me out there, so you think there might be a chance of selection, but we wanted the series 3-0 so Andy Farrell didn’t change the side.
‘I played a Test four years ago, which made it easier. It is what it is. It meant I could go out and do more things, like playing golf, because I didn’t have to focus so much on the matches. We had small social groups out there and I was responsible for finding good food and coffee spots, making a list of how far away they are from the hotel.
‘Tom Curry was on the finance committee. He was in charge of telling us about things like Lime Bikes; how if we pay-and-go it can be quite expensive, but if you get a monthly bundle then it’s cheaper. He got everyone to chip in a hundred quid or so for some stocks and shares, an investment fund, Tesla - things like that. It didn’t do well. We lost every penny!’
Almost three months have passed since Cowan-Dickie’s last match against the Invitational XV in southern Australia. He has since spent a week in Greece during the off-season, before visiting his England team-mate Ellis Genge for more golf.
Now he's back in Sale’s ranks and ready to go. But it is also true that he's returned from Down Under with valuable insights. He namechecks prop Tadhg Furlong as one of his biggest role models from the tour, picking up plenty of tricks from the veteran Irish prop.
‘The Irish lads were very good, leadership-wise,' he says. 'Tadhg is a very knowledgeable man and he can back it up. We had our phase shape, the way we want to play, and Tadhg was very good at getting everyone on the same page.
When you’re getting up off the deck and you’re knackered, as a forward, you‘re usually looking around to work out where you need to go. If there’s already three forwards in the pod off the No9, then you know you’re meant to be standing in the pod off the No10.
'Tadhg would only go to where he’s needed. He was hot on it, emphasising the importance of counting and numbering off. “One, two, three”. Rather than working towards nine, then fanning back out when you realise you’re not needed. There’s a lot of detail. The way you set up off each other – how deep you want to be or how flat you want to be. It’s definitely something I’ll bring back here to Sale.’
Cowan-Dickie tries his hand at cricket with the Lions in Melbourne back in July
The hooker intends to use what he learnt Down Under to fuel Sale's PREM season
Back in greater Manchester, Cowan-Dickie has picked up from where he left off, enjoying yet another round of golf with Tom Curtis and Tom O’Flaherty this week, ahead his return to action.
The unlikely figure of Joe Marler has been overseeing the Lions players’ playing schedules, balancing the responsibilities as Player Welfare Manager with his appearance on the latest series of Celebrity Traitors.
‘After the tour, Marler sent through surveys on how we felt and what we need,' Cowan-Dickie says. 'He has the players’ backs. When he does it, he is serious. He’s trying to get us as much time off as we need.
'Here at Sale it’s brilliant, but some clubs are terrible for it. As soon as you’re back they’re like, “We need you to play this game” and before you know it you’ve played every minute of every game for six months. It’s hard.
‘With Exeter, I played loads of times when I shouldn’t have. That’s probably why my knee is knackered. I’ve had 14 operations. I reckon I had eight knee ops by the time I was 26.
'You can’t really say “No” when you’re young, so it’s good for someone like Joe to step in and take it out of your hands.’
On Friday night, Cowan-Dickie will return to action in Sale’s northern derby. They are facing their ‘noisy neighbours’, the recently-rebranded Newcastle Red Bulls.
In their meeting to kick off the week, Alex Sanderson stood in front of the team and used an AI-generated video to fire up his players. It went down well with Cowan-Dickie, whose ambitions for the season are to bring the title back to Sale for the first time since 2006.
Cowan-Dickie says the player care at Sale is second to none, while other clubs have a 'terrible' track record
Cowan-Dickie is aiming for glory with Sale this season. ‘If your team doesn’t have ambitions to win, then what’s the point?' he says
'It would be amazing to make the next World Cup,' says Cowan-Dickie, pictured here with Ellis Genge (left) and Will Stuart after England won the Calcutta Cup in February
‘There’s always themes,’ says the hooker of the start of the week meetings. ‘Our little motto is “Take the next step”. For the last three years, we’ve been there or thereabouts. It’s just how do we go one step further? Our first game was good, second game was OK and we have a few boys coming back.
’There’s a lot of shark themes in the meetings. We’ve had an AI generated video of a shark eating a bull this week. Taking its head off!
'Things like that are a little starter in meetings. They look quite cool, gets the boys engaged, and then "bam" you’re into the presentation and you’re into learning.
‘If your team doesn’t have ambitions to win, then what’s the point? Hopefully we can get top four, semi-final, final. The next step is for us to get a home semi-final.
'It’s going to be tough but if we can make that then we’ve got a way higher chance of winning. If we can get to the final, then it’s anyone’s game.’
Outside his ambitions at Sale, where he is sharing the hooker responsibilities with new man Nathan Jibulu, Cowan-Dickie’s next big international target will be the 2027 World Cup.
He is, to great surprise, not on the radar of R360, and plans to keep alive his England ambitions. ’It would be amazing to make the next World Cup but you don’t want to look too far ahead,' he says.
'I feel good. I’m 32 and I don’t feel any older than I did two years ago. I had that year where my shoulder was bad so that’s effectively another year I can add on. I’m not slowing down. I’m probably in the best shape I’ve been in for a long time.
Cowan-Dickie celebrates scoring his second try during the PREM match against Leicester Tigers back in December
The prop has not been approached by the R360 breakaway league but has his heart set on England for now anyway
‘I’ve not been approached by R360, which is unfortunate because they’re throwing mad money around! It’s like Voldemort, the name that shouldn’t be spoken. Obviously some boys must have been approached but it’s not really spoken about.
'I assume there won’t be many teams, which means fewer games, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
‘But if you’re a young guy coming through then you ain't gonna go there because all you want to do is play for England. That’s what I was like when I was younger. It’s an interesting one, but my focus is here - and I want to play for England.’
On Friday night, all eyes will be on Sale, where Cowan-Dickie will be hoping to be celebrating with a burger, chips and a milkshake.
