JAMES LOWE TAKES a seat and starts by letting us know that his mum has texted to tell him she’s annoyed.
Lowe has just scored two tries and run riot in Leinster’s dominant win over Wasps, so it’s nothing about Lowe’s performance that stressed her out, rather the incomplete coverage on New Zealand television as she watched on from home in Nelson.
“She said they cut the game off during one of my interviews,” explains Lowe with a shake of the head and a laugh. “You don’t want to annoy my mother!”
With his next sentence, Lowe outlines that his parents will be visiting him in Ireland during the November Tests.
“Man, I’m excited. It should be some craic.”
It’s Lowe down to a tee. Open, honest, engaging and always capable of getting a laugh.
Box office on the pitch, the Kiwi wing is also a godsend off it in an era where many professional athletes are guarded and wary around journalists.
His infectiously positive personality has helped him become a fan favourite at Leinster since arriving at Leinster 11 months ago, although his skill out on the pitch is perhaps most important.
Yesterday’s showing against Wasps underlined just how exciting the 26-year-old is as he tore the English side apart, the crowd audibly thrilled every time Lowe touched the ball.
The chants of “J-Lowe… J-Lowe… J-Lowe” during and after the 52-3 win said it all.
“It’s cos I look different, that’s literally it,” says Lowe of his ever-growing status with the Leinster support. “I’m really enjoying my time here.
“Isa [Nacewa] just messaged me, man, like he’s still watching. I thought he’d left us and bloody pushed us to the side but he’s still there and he was a huge influence last year.
“We lost a big part of the team and the culture and boys have stepped up and really filled his shoes. It’s like we haven’t missed a beat since he left and everyone thought the world was over.
“I’ve settled in well, everyone’s been really welcoming. We’ve got a good foreign group, we’re going to some bloomin’ silly paint thing tomorrow, all the partners and a few of the boys.”
Lowe clarifies that he’s heading to a Paint and Prosseco event on his day off on Saturday, free to enjoy his weekend after Leinster secured five bonus points to kick off their Heineken Champions Cup defence.
“I don’t really know the prosseco side but I’ll back my painting skills and I’ll tell you on Monday how we go!”
With his girlfriend enjoying her job in Bank of Ireland, Lowe says life in Dublin has been extremely enjoyable so far.
Apart from one minor issue on Thursday.
“My car got broken into,” says Lowe. “Man, I couldn’t bloody believe it! They didn’t take anything but, man, I don’t know what’s going on – they broke the smallest bloody window and then just ran off.
“If you find them, tell me. The police rung me yesterday and we had a funny chat. I was like, ‘Man, if you do find them, give me 10 minutes with them.’ He just giggled to himself.
“But apart from that, it’s been outstanding. Me and my girlfriend have really settled in, we’re enjoying our time here. That’s half of it, you get your life sorted off the field and on the field becomes easy.”
What Lowe does on the pitch certainly isn’t easy and there are few players like him in this part of the world.
The fact that the former Chiefs and Tasman Makos wide man is in Ireland at all simply underlines the scary depth of the All Blacks – Lowe would walk into many Test teams.
His second try last night was a straightforward run-in thanks to Johnny Sexton’s between-the-legs brilliance and Robbie Henshaw’s draw-and-pass, but his first was a magnificent solo effort.
Henshaw freed him on a lineout starter play near halfway before Lowe stepped Willie le Roux and fended Elliot Daly on his way to the tryline.
“Oh man, your head goes out the gate,” says Lowe of what he was thinking once he got behind Wasps. “You don’t know what to do.
“You always try and get the ball back in two hands. That’s the big thing, because then the defences don’t know what you’re going to do.
“I didn’t know what I was gonna do so imagine what they’re thinking! I just kept on bloody running, saw the tryline and jumped over. Now we’re here.”
One of Lowe’s most popular party pieces is his habit of being tackled, releasing the ball, getting back to his feet immediately, scooping the ball back up and carrying again.
It’s a common enough skill in New Zealand but Lowe’s excellence in this area is proving infectious in Leinster as many of his team-mates have begun to copy him.
“I should copyright it!” laughs Lowe. “Nah, I didn’t invent it. It’s something from back home, you don’t want to die with the ball even when you’re on the ground. Release it and get up and go.
“I actually had Sean Cronin on top of me in the first half, he bloody gave me an earful after.
“He was like, ‘James, don’t do that!’ I was like, ‘Come on, Sean.’ Na, he’s a good boy, he’s all good.”
Leo Cullen has spoken about how influential Lowe has been on the training pitch for Leinster, bringing little skills like the one above to the mix.
Having been in a high-performing Chiefs environment before his move to Leinster, Lowe also has a keen understanding of how important the ruck is.
“Yeah, hit on suspicion,” is how he sums up that mentality. “If anyone’s in that metre, you just get rid of them.
“Every time you go to a ruck you should completely rearrange it. If you go off your feet, you’ve got to take someone with you. It’s kind of like a little rule.
“You can’t take it too far but if they land around the ruck, it’s fair game. It’s not my area of expertise but I know that every time I go near a ruck I’m taking someone with me.”
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I think RTE should make these 3 amigos pay per view-quality TV again!
Old white haired/bald men arguing with each other?
Pay per view?!? Nooo!
If it’s too expensive to fire Trap, we should hire a new manager anyway and demote Trap to assistant. I’m sure he would walk away then.
Well Said Liam Brady
Amazing the way if you stand up to Dunphy and Giles for what you believe in, they quickly look like unsure stuttering fools. I don’t agree with Brady but fair play to him for not blindly joining the populist “Trap out” brigade and sticking to his guns.
Brady, Sadlier and Cunningham to be the future for irish soccer pundits. Dunphy and Giles as usual were grasping at straws tonight.
i don’t believe that. Yes the 3 points is all that matters but it’s the style of play that people are getting sick of. Long, James McClean, Clarke……..better style of football is what we need and is what we’re capable of.
I think you’ll find the last time saddler was on the panel he made Brady look churlish and foolish.its not about sacking trap it’s about how he goes or should I say doesn’t go about his job. Peripheral players aren’t getting a look in and some of his team choices are questionable
Got to be said the 4-1 result over the Faroes does not paper over the cracks in the team. I am not on the Trap out band wagon, I have been calling for him to go after the 1st year in charge.
His time has come and past. Realistically speaking look at the other results tonight, Sweden came from 4-0 down to earn a draw, that is a team that doesn’t give up. I didn’t once see a hint of us coming back against Germany. The bad news is that was in Germany when they gave up the 4-0 lead, we have to go to Germany and welcome the Swede’s and go to Sweden also.
At this moment in time, even if Trap is given Das Boot, I am not quite sure how we are going to negotiate these tough fixtures. I would be more confident with a new manager in place however that will allow us to play football, rather than one that believes a draw first.
This is a worrying time for Irish football…. but honestly the best way forward I can see is either we all get on board with Trap and hope for the best, or we look to actively take control of this qualifying group, install a new manager and let the guys play. It will be tough I’m not going to lie to anyone, but at least we can bring through some talent and look towards the future.
Not 100% sure where to go with this one, I am still leaning towards Trap to go and a new manager, however I could understand the argument to keep him and give him one more chance in the next round. The friendlies (If Trap survives that long) will tell us a lot. If we don’t see new talent being brought into the fold here, I would be very worried about our qualification prospects.
Another one not after jumping on the band wagon, was calling for him to go even after we qualified, we went to the euros with 9 players in either championship or with no club, while 6 Irishmen were starting for their premier league clubs never got a look in! Time to get someone in who wont piss off home after last night because they’ve been almost a week away from home. He should be heading to Norwich, villa reading, looking at these players that should be getting a chance to prove their worth in November!
Not committed to the squad, got the job on the back of a great cv, but that shouldn’t still hold now. If he doesn’t go the FAI have nobody to blame but themselves, gave him a new contract before the euros, when he still had time on the contract he has. One of the highest paid managers in international football, feck even Dennis O’Brien is paying half his wages cos the FAI can’t afford him.
You would get alot of managers that would take the job for less money and give the job a lot more effort.
Time to say ciao trap!
Liam Brady has been successful for X amount of years despite looking like a tractor tyre with a slow puncture
Now now! there’s no call for that, insulting a tractor tyre in such manor. Puncture can be repaired u’know.
A comment that few of the media picked up on after the Germany game….*paraphrasing* Trap: “the German team is a team of 11 champions league players,a win was going to be difficult” yet he leaves one of the premier league’s in-form strikers in Shane Long on the bench! Long should be one of the first names on the sheet!!!!
Take a moment …… Chill pill everyone.
4-1 is a great result!
Media will brainwash you.
Trap out? OK. …
But then what?
Leave him at it (Dunphy loved him) and we can qualify 2nd (maybe first) and Trap ain’t stupid …. Experience will tell?
All you EXPERTS …. could be wrong?
COYBIG
Sshhh! 4-1 against that opposition is routine, a 6-1 defeat at home to anyone is diabolical. Trap doesn’t go to see the players playing for their clubs, nuff said.
We can qualify maybe first? Are u serious? Do u know about the German match last Friday?? We just bet a team, captained by a bank official, ranked about 130 places below us. Your comment is ridiculous.
Dunphy & giles out!
Ah bill!!
ya can’t be saying that, c’mon now bill!!!
eh newsflash Liam! we already looked ridiculous to the football world twice before in the space of 2 years! the first when no hope Delaney begged fifa to be an extra team in the world cup! They literally laughed at us. The second was the Euros.
TV gold
the 3 wise men we are not worthy,if you watched souness when he was on he couldn’t believe the brutality of there comments,watch souness on sky and he’s meek as a lamb,there the best pundits by a mile
Brady 100% correct, qualifying for previous championships was the goal, not getting the Irish team to play Brazilian style football, Trap did well with meager resources player wise,..& as for Sadlier, I really hope RTE don’t see him as a successor to Giles,Brady or Dunphy, Bill & the trio are miles ahead of anything SKY, ITV, BBC or TV3 can offer.
ROI might be going through a rough patch/era but this panel isn’t. Love or hate them these guys are TV gold (loive!). Contrasted last night against the yawn fest over on ITV of Gareth Southgate, Roy Keane, Adrian Childes etc who among the pearls of wisdom they imparted actually said “the game might be played in a day’s time in that case it could well take place within the next 24 hours”….no s*** Sherlock (s). Long live the Bill, the Brady, Gilsey and Dunphy (who I would also love to see doing a bit of GAA punditary some day…Dunphy, Brolly & Spillane…classic…
The RTE coverage post-match is usually far more entertaining than the match itself, it’s the only post-match analysis I would watch on any channel, hearing the banal clichés and play it safe punditry on ITV and BBC, and to a lesser extent Sky Sports is a major turn-off. Having said that, as a Liverpool fan, the last two years has completely changed my view of Gary Neville, I think he is very good and far more insightful than Andy Gray ever was. I am almost sure that Souness said that being on the panel at RTE was a shock initially but also a massive breath of fresh air, he couldn’t believe his luck being able to actually say what he felt, but probably took it too far when he said Torres r**ed Vidic live on tv.
After we qualified for the Euros, After we qualified for the Euros, After we qualified for the Euros. I used to be a parrot but I’m cured now, . I used to be a parrot but I’m cured now.
Would just about survive in the Blue Square Conference 1st Division.
Brady 1-0 Dunphy.
Sorry but winning over some team most of us never heard of is no big win, I want to see Ireland winning over the big ones and Trapatoni is not doing that, we look ridiculous having him and always losing, I think he should be sacked big time!!
We should sack Trap and not because of the german result,last night proved everybody but trap right,we have some decent pros who can play well if given a chance to express themselves…and Trap has held these players back,imagine if he picked our best players in a modern fluid formation?things could be very different and positive,he has ruined his own reputation at the euros and further damaged it since then,if he wants to survive he must select premier league regulars,in short pick our best players.clark ireland long kelly hoolahan should all start v greece next month.
the 3 wise men we are not worthy,if you watched souness when he was on he couldn’t believe the brutality of there comments,watch souness on sky and he’s meek as a lamb,there the best pundits by a mile.
Imagine that behaviour on utv or bbc, Chiles would shit himself
For Gods sake, will Dunphy ever get off our screens, how many more years of this dick head have I to tolerate.
I am a bit dissapointed with Giles to be honest… and I think in general he is brilliant, but after the Kazakstan game he was joining in with Brady ganging up against Richie Sadlier, but last night he about-turned and hooked up with Dunphy’s point of view against Brady. As the “Senior Analyst” you would have thought he would be above this sort of thing.