Luke Cowan-Dickie could be thrown a Premiership lifeline by Sale after reports from France that his move to Montpellier is off.
The England and Lions hooker was due to join the Top 14 outfit this summer on a two-year deal but Midi Olympique claims his medical came back inconclusive.
Cowan-Dickie has undergone neck and ankle operations since he last played in January and Rob Baxter, his boss at Exeter, admits there is a nerve issue which is not possible to put a timescale on.
The Chiefs star made headlines last month when he went to Montpellier for his medical and ended up in a “drunk tank” following a boozy night out.
Tolu Latu has since been linked with Montpellier and Sale boss Alex Sanderson last night claimed to have heard that the Australia hooker, whom he tried to bring to Sharks, had joined “for twice the amount of money we offered him”.
Asked if he would now be interested in signing Cowan-Dickie, 29, Sanderson answered: “Yeah, why wouldn’t you? He’s a great player.”
He said he had not spoken to the 41-times capped forward, whose fitness concerns have to make him a World Cup doubt.
But he added: “He’s got mates up here and he fits our kind of game model, in that Ewan Ashman/Akker van der Merwe mould. He’s a banger. He ticks a lot of boxes on those fronts.”
Sale take on Leicester this Sunday for a place in the Premiership Final and Sanderson will today welcome rugby league great Jamie Peacock to speak to his players about “what champion attitude looks like”.
The other semi-final pits Saracens against Northampton and a head-to-head between England fly-half Owen Farrell and 20-year-old Fin Smith.
Smith started the season with Worcester before Warriors folded and he was recruited by Saints in mid-season to replace Lions star Dan Biggar. He has since been invited to train with England.
“Fin was 19 at the time when he took on that mantle,” said Saints head coach Sam Vesty. “He’s does it his way and shown an experienced head on a young set of shoulders.
“Ultimately, we felt [letting Biggar join Toulon] was the right thing to do for the club for a number of reasons, one of those being we had Fin coming in, a young lad we could put faith in. He’s been fantastic. You wouldn’t for the life of you think he is as young as he is.
“To step in and really take control of that position, keep his own skills high, make really good decisions and drive another group as a leader at the age of 20 - that is pretty impressive.”
