Upbeat James Lowe times his return to perfection amidst injury chaos in Ireland’s backfield

Timing is everything in life, isn’t it, says James Lowe rhetorically. The Leinster and Ireland wing arrived back from a World Cup, a trip to New Zealand to see family and rehab after injury. He missed his target game against Ulster in the RDS but came out of the freezer into a hot Aviva Stadium to score a Champions Cup try against Stade Francais.

That and a milestone first Christmas as a father. It was a cracker.

“We took him to see Santa...he had no idea...kids crying and stuff,” says an unvarnished Lowe.

Now Ireland looms back into focus for the first time since that miserable October 14th in Paris against the All Blacks.

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Compared to the injured Ross Byrne, Jamie Osborne or Mack Hansen, Lowe has reason to sometimes appear perpetually upbeat. A successful comeback days before Andy Farrell announces his first squad of 2024 and Lowe is nothing if not well timed, if a little match shy.

A priority is putting his game on speed dial for a fast approaching Six Nations opener against France in Marseille.

“Yes, amazing to be back,” he says. “Nice introduction, 40-odd thousand at the Aviva, so the body is a little bit sore now but ready for another week. I was hoping to play the first round of Champions Cup but I tore a muscle in my foot and that put me back a little bit and the Ulster game was probably where I felt 100 per cent.

“I was just off there. They sort of made a call early in the week to give me, I think it was 10 days between those two games, so yeah, I am absolutely stoked to be back playing rugby. You get to a stage where you actually start missing it.”

The sport missed Lowe’s high energy too, the rucking and tackling, his trailing lines behind just about anybody who is prepared to attack and his big left, clearing boot. It will also be his first Six Nations without Johnny Sexton as the established captain.

Since his first cap in 2020 and an average of a try almost every two games, Lowe has primarily had Sexton barking commands at him, with current pick Peter O’Mahony occasionally taking the armband.

That’s one adjustment. Another is fitting into Jacques Nienaber’s defensive philosophy at Leinster. Given the number of Leinster players named in Wednesday’s Irish squad – 11 forwards and seven backs – Lowe sees a meeting of minds on a style that will fit somewhere in between Farrell and the South African World Cup-winner.

“It’s weird, it’s like you get divorced or something,” he says of Sexton. “He’s there but he’s not there. It’s sad, man, because obviously a huge chunk of his life has been here, helping the boys and driving standards, expecting the best of you day-in, day-out, so it’s weird not having him here. But the sun keeps on coming up and people jump into different roles in the environment.

“Jacques, yeah, it’s good. It’s tough, it’s different. It is very, very different. Don’t get me wrong, but I can understand and everyone can probably see the benefits of it as well. I think we can marry the two up in a hybrid sort of way. But we will have to wait and see what Simon [Easterby] wants to do.

“At the end of the day, I just do whatever Garry [Ringrose] does or whatever Robbie [Henshaw] does. If Robbie goes in, then I follow him in. If Robbie stays out or Garry stays out, I stay out, so there are a lot of decision-making aspects that, for me, rely on them.”

Mike Catt, Ireland’s attack coach since 2019, will also be leaving the Irish set-up but will remain for the 2024 Six Nations and the subsequent summer tour of South Africa. Andrew Goodman stepping in is just another change, another adjustment, if further down the road. But for Lowe the eventual move of Goodman from Leinster to Ireland will be greeted like the arrival of a comfort blanket.

“Catty has been phenomenal ever since I have gone into that Irish camp. Bit of a changing of the guard. On Goody, he is from my hometown back in Nelson. He was the captain of Tasman when I was coming through, so he was always a bit of a legend.

“He was my PE teacher at Nelson College. His father was my rugby manager for years. He is a legend of a bloke. I’m absolutely stoked to have seen him come to Leinster and thrive and then for the Irish boys to see that. For him to get the nod of approval is awesome.”

Some flux at the beginning of another World Cup cycle. As Lowe says, for that to work sweetly, timing is everything.

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