Tom Johnson, the Exeter flanker, was a warmish favourite to fill the vacancy on the England bench before last weekend’s Premiership victory over London Irish and his odds have shortened considerably since, thanks to a man-of-the-match effort at Sandy Park. But Lancaster was equally animated yesterday on the subject of the Devonians’ uncapped hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, who made his first league start against the Exiles and played a blinder.
“There shouldn’t be wholesale changes to this current group ahead of next year’s World Cup, assuming we’ve been accurate in our predictions on player development, but we won’t be closing the door on bringing in new faces,” the coach said. “If you look at Jack Nowell [the Exeter wing who came from the back end of nowhere to force a place in this Six Nations side], he’s made the biggest jump of anyone, and it’s his temperament that has allowed him to deal with it. Cowan-Dickie is another who has the potential to come through quickly.”
