“I feel a bit sorry for the guy, he is a bit like a live experiment for everybody but obviously he is desperate to get on with things as well. There is nothing definitively saying here and now that he won’t be fit by the end of the season, but there is also definitively saying that he will be.”

Cowan-Dickie injury: What is the problem?

Baxter was able to shed more light on the Cowan-Dickie injury, adding: “The issue at the moment is nerve recovery… Now there are sometimes a surgeon or a specialist might go, ‘Look, this is as good as it is going to get’ but that is quite rare. Most of them are, ‘This has improved from the last time we assessed you’, so that means we are still on an improvement curve.

Read more: England Rugby World Cup squad

“That is where Luke is at the moment, he is on an improvement curve and what has to happen is that has just got to maintain it to get him back to full fitness. Where that recovery stops will be where he ends up on his fitness pathway. It is not necessarily a plateau, it’s just the time that has to pass.

“Montpellier haven’t been in touch with us. I don’t think anyone is sitting here thinking the move is off. Everyone is thinking Luke is going to make a decent recovery and he is going to be ready to go and he is going to be a very good player. That is the overriding feeling around the club, and we haven’t had any indication that that is going to change.”

The Exeter boss praised Cowan-Dickie’s professionalism and described him as a “caged lion” as he attempts to get himself back on the pitch before bidding farewell to Devon.

Related: Richard Cockerill swaps England for Montpellier

Will Luke Cowan-Dickie be fit for the World Cup?

“There is nobody in the club wanting Luke to be fit more than me because he is an absolute nightmare when he is not playing,” said Baxter. “It is bad enough when he is playing, but sometimes the only thing you hear around the club is Luke screaming at a physio to move to the next session or get on with this, or grabbing one of the S&C coaches and going, ‘What are we doing next?’

“He is a bit like a caged lion at the moment, prowling around trying to get on with things. 100 per cent, if he can get fit before the end of the season for us or before the World Cup, he will be flying. There is every good reason to get him fit because he will fly into it with absolute abandon.

Read more: Where will England play in France at World Cup?

“That part of it is without doubt. He isn’t walking around with his head down going, ‘Poor me’. It’s almost the other way around. That is the part of his character that if he is going to get back quickly will drive him as much as anything else.”

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