England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie out of Six Nations in major blow to Eddie Jones

Luke Cowan-Dickie could miss the remainder of the season after Rob Baxter, the Exeter Chiefs director of rugby, confirmed that he will need an operation on the knee injury he suffered against Wales.

Cowan-Dickie sustained what Baxter described as “significant” ligament damage to his right knee in the 25th minute of England’s 23-19 victory as he stooped to take a pass from Harry Randall and was tackled by Ross Moriarty.

Following assessment from the medical teams at both England and Exeter, the 28 year-old will undergo surgery early next week.

Cowan-Dickie has an outside chance of featuring in the Premiership play-offs, should his club reach that stage, but that is not certain.

“It’s a pretty significant knee ligament injury, which will need an operation,” said Baxter. “He’s going to be out for a significant amount of time, possibly until the end of the season.

“Obviously it’s a big blow, not just for us, but for Luke himself as he is a very important and very good player. We have got some hope that he could feature towards the end of the season, that is if we extend our season from getting into that top four, but right now it’s too early to say if that’s fully the case.”

Cowan-Dickie, who toured South Africa with the British and Irish Lions last summer and started two of three Tests against the Springboks, had missed England’s autumn schedule due to an ankle injury. This comes as another setback to the hooker, who has become one of Eddie Jones’ vice-captains.

Jamie George and Jamie Blamire, named in a 25-man training squad, would appear to be the two hookers Jones will name to face Ireland next weekend. Exeter will continue to rely on Jack Innard and Jack Yeandle.

“As I said, the biggest blow is for Luke himself as he’s