England likely to miss ‘a couple of players’ for their summer tour after the final Premiership match in the Champions Cup.
England is gearing up to take on South Africa, Fiji, and Argentina in the Nations Championship this summer, but they might have to do it without two of their key front-row players.
Steve Borthwick’s team had a tough Six Nations tournament in 2026, losing four out of five games, including the first-ever loss to Italy.
Their first match this summer will be against South Africa, who have been playing brilliantly over the past year. This means England could face the challenge of going five games in a row without a win. To pull off a surprise in South Africa, England will need their best players healthy and ready—but it looks like two important players may be missing for that clash.
Sale Sharks recently reached the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup after beating Harlequins, but they also picked up some tough injuries. Luke Cowan-Dickie and Bevan Rodd had to leave the game with serious injuries that might rule them out for the rest of the season, adding to the troubles of Sale’s director of rugby, Alex Sanderson.
Sanderson told The Telegraph that both players could miss England’s first Nations Championship in July and won’t return this club season. He said, “We’ve lost a couple of soldiers in Bev and Dickie. Dickie injured his wrist or forearm badly—it might be a break. He’s tough, but he was clearly hurting. Bev dislocated his shoulder, which had to be fixed right there on the field. We haven’t had much of either of them this season, honestly. They are fantastic players—Luke is a Lion, and Bev is of British & Irish Lions quality.”
Sale now faces a tough quarter-final against either Leinster or Edinburgh, made even harder with these injuries. But with their strong Northern English spirit, Sale won’t give up easily and will fight hard against whichever Celtic team they face next weekend.
England fans will understandably worry about these injuries, as Rodd and Cowan-Dickie played in all of Borthwick’s Six Nations games this year. Losing Cowan-Dickie could be a bigger blow, considering his experience. He’s been a two-time British & Irish Lion, helped win the 2025 series against Australia with Andy Farrell, and earned 58 caps for England, including coming off the bench in the 2019 World Cup final against South Africa.