“PEOPLE WILL SAY ’Tommy Bowe, bloody hell, how did he do that?’”
The above words from Lions team doctor James Robson is a mere projection of his own feelings. And as a man on his sixth Lions tour, the astonishment should not be underestimated.
Ulster, Ireland and Lions wing Bowe suffered a fractured hand on June 8. Two and a half weeks later, he is back in action, the cavalry speeding in to help push the Lions over the line.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Robson admits that he, along with the rest of the rugby-watching public believed Bowe would be taking his hand in a sling back to Monaghan.
“The immediate feeling was ’Oh my God, we have just lost somebody who we greatly respected and was back to his full peak.” Robson told The Telegraph.
Robson and Eanna Falvey took Bowe to Dr Peter Rowan – the orthopedic surgeon of choice for the Brisbane Broncos and a specialist in hand and shoulder injuries.
“The specialist said he had seen one or two people come back early, maybe not in the time frame we were wanting, but why don’t we do it and give it a go?
“If the surgeon had said no chance, that would have been a different kettle of fish. But he said we had a reasonable chance of three to four weeks, and we thought: ’why don’t we make it two to three weeks?’
‘Immense low’.©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
“We experienced an immense low, then a glimmer of hope and then over two or three days a feeling that ’Shoot, we actually might pull this off.”
Robson details the injury as a spiral fracture of Bowe’s metacarpal, “it came apart in two pieces”. As excruciating as that sounds, it was what ultimately aided the winger towards a playable solution as screws were necessary rather than a metal plate.
“Tommy’s recovery is up there with the best stories,” Robson added. A story made all the better by the addition of a protective hurling glove.“The only way he can cap this off is to be selected for Saturday and score the winning try. I am hoping it will become the stuff of Lions’s legend.
“People will say ’Tommy Bowe, bloody hell, how did he do that?’ The impact is bound to lift everyone.”
Read the full account of Bowe’s road to recovery over on The Telegraph.
I broke my finger two months ago and still cant make a fist. How in Gods name is he back playing rugby? Hope all goes well for him and that theyre not rushing him too soon. Dont want him to break it again.
You’re soft! :-)
I broke my hand paddys day and was back in 3 and a half weeks… and I had no surgery either! Everybody is different. That 6 weeks in a cast thing is a load of bollocks!
So is 6 weeks in a case a load of bollix or is everyone different?
I meant the “6 weeks” generic response you get off people. Every injury is different, a pulled calf muscle could be a week or 4 months.
That is all good and well until James Horwill gets a chance to stamp on Tommy’s hand on Saturday. He deliberately stood on a guys face last Saturday, so I guess the Tommy’s hand will be fair game to him also.
You don’t know it was intentional. Nobody but Horwell does. Personally I think it was more careless than deliberate. Deserved a ban though.
It was an unnatural movement with his leg/foot. It was intentional, and he has previous.
Any truth to the rumours Lazarus is starting at hooker in Saturday too?
There will be no shortage of hookers out there.
Im a big fan of Bowe and am delighted for him that he’s back but there is this nagging doubt at the back of my mind that he be being rushed back too soon. It wasn’t a clean fracture, and his hand still looks swollen. I really hope I’m wrong.
He’ll be grand! He’s not a soccer player! And he’s got a hurling glove!
Yeah but he’s from Monaghan…not exactly a hurling hotspot!!
Had the exact same injury except had a plate inserted, movement in your hand post plaster is a lot of work and very painful
This is incredible. Bowe deserves his spot back and great to see Ferris back hopefully for the 2015.
First time to see an Ashguard in a Lions series :-)