There’s no show like a Lowe show to raise the Leinster spirits
Smiles all round as Kiwi magician casts dazzling spell on Munster and prompts fresh Euro headache for Leo Cullen
JAMES LOWE could follow someone into a revolving door and still come out first. If your car is blocking his driveway, he’ll clench his muscles and just push it to aside. And then flash an impish smile. When he was done torturing his foes with the dancing feet and the oak-like thighs, he was at the furthest side of the field to the rest of the combatants as the last whistle chirruped.
Towards them he came, head lolling from side to side, the facial features betraying childhood memories of that fateful summons from home. “Come in for yizzer dinner!!” The ball game was done. It was the first time the smile left Lowe’s lips all day. The second occasion might have been when Ross Byrne, and not the finisher of two outrageous scores, was officially awarded the man of the match gong.
“I won’t say,” smiles Byrne, struggling to feign the slight injustice to his colleague.
“No, he’s disgusted! In fairness, I think that finish alone probably deserved it. It was incredible.”
Lowe has now scored 14 tries in 17 appearances for Leinster. He arrived from the Chiefs, where he nabbed 25 in 52; for Tasman, his club side, 21 in 37. He rarely starts what he cannot finish, however disdainful the odds.
Built like a 200-year-old tree whose limbs flower outrageous colour, it almost seems improbable that any side could conceivably plan a campaign without Lowe in their midst.
But that is what Leinster more or less did, in Europe at least, last season.
The primary reason was a little-known Champions Cup rule which decrees that teams can only have a maximum of two ‘non-Europeans’ in their squad.
And so, when Lowe debuted for Leinster last December – needless to add, he scored two tries – there was no room for him in their Champions Cup squad a week later; Leinster, forced to perm two ‘foreigners’ from scrum-half Jamison Gibson Park, second-row Scott Fardy and Lowe, omitted the wing.
Not exactly a prayer without a wing, given their eventual title success, not to mention stellar names such as Isa Nacewa, Jordan L armour and Rob Kearney already filling the back three.
But now? It’s a head-scratcher for Leo Cullen and his brains trust as they prepare to open their defence against Wasps this Friday.
“James is a handful for defences,” admits Cullen, struggling to conceal a grin as wide as the Dodder.
“When you think back to this exact time last year he was still playing the Mitre 10 competition in New Zealand, which is quite intense.
“And that came off the back of a Super Rugby competition. It was a challenge for him and we couldn’t register him for Europe at the start as well. He’s a constant threat and he’s into everything.”
Being “into everything” included the typically rambunctious temperature of a derby game; Lowe was able to dish out as much as he received from the opposition.
It may get him into trouble one of these days but, aside from those whose default setting is to divine the worst of a person’s character, the Tasman native often appears to be merely smirking cheekily at the fun of it all, like a child thieving an orchard.
“He has become very passionate about the team, which is good! It’s what you want.”
Enthusiasm
The enthusiasm inflicts pain on opponents, infects colleagues with ambition and invites joy from onlookers.
Isn’t this what sport is supposed to be all about?
Quite apart from his brace of tries, he was also potentially denied a third, resulting in Keith Earls’ early binning.
He should not have been allowed to score at all; yet he would not allow himself to be denied. His first effort in the tightest of corners concluded with three flailing red-clad men clambering over his back like toddlers upon a doting dad.
His second was a mirror image and in the opposite corner; the mountainous Jean Kleyn acted as bouncer but Lowe assessed the situation, bounced his man but not enough, it seemed, to remain infield.
And yet he did, levitating his immense frame in mid-air like a latter-day Nureyev; the only object touching the ground the only thing that mattered. The ball.
“Check his legs!” bellows the referee to the Welsh TMO. Tidy.
But there was much more. The almost nonchalant take from a high ball, standing still, as Earls arrived flustered and flying in the air. The booming left-foot howitzers.
The no-look pass to Dan Leavy. A dinked out-the-back ball to Sean O’Brien. The midfield one-two with Robbie Henshaw. He was everywhere and Munster struggled to cope.
“He’s one of those world-class players,” mused a muted Johann van Graan. “You’ve got to cut down his space. He did pretty well in that semi-final last year as well. You’ve got
to say well done, I thought he played really well tonight.”
Given Leinster’s resurgent back-row stocks, one suspects Fardy may be sacrificed – then again, his absence on Saturday might have been instructive. Lowe’s influence might be hard to ignore, however.
“I suppose you can probably see the energy he brings,” says Byrne. “Even if we get a penalty on the right touchline, he sprints 70 metres across the pitch to congratulate the forwards for doing a great job.
“Then, obviously, you saw his finishing power, the second one was absolutely phenomenal really.
“He is a serious weapon to have. We would have liked to get him more ball. Hopefully, we can work on that in the coming weeks.”
“There’s no show like a Lowe show!” the Saturday night revellers in Toner’s told us. Their smiles reflected his.