IT’S SO FAR, LOWE GOOD

Thrilling wing James happy with his debut but knows Twickenham clash is a step up

JAMES LOWE is pumped up for Twickenham even if the target on his back has only got bigger after his Ireland debut.

Off the pitch he is a bubbly, entertaining character.

On it, between moments of genius, he can find himself i n c o n f r o n t a t i o n s wit h opponents.

Such was his welcome to Test rugby last Friday night when he had Josh Adams and Liam Williams squaring up to him just five minutes in.

But Lowe had the last laugh, scoring a last-minute try on a promising debut.

“I reckon I’ve got a target on my back,” the Kiwi smiled. “I don’t know what’s going on but you’ve got to front foot that sort of stuff right from the get go.

“At the end of the day we’re wearing a green top, they’re wearing a red top and that’s why we don’t like each other.

“That’s it. Off the field, we’re all normal people. We’re all decent blokes, we all want the same thing.

“You actually find that when you come into this environment and get to actually know people from the other provinces.

“The only thing that we don’t like about each other is that we wear ar different coloured tops on a Saturday – that’s literally y the only thing.

“Speak to

Johnny

Sexton and he’d be li ke,

“Pe te r

O’mahony is one of the nicest blokes you’ll ever meet, wait until you get to meet him’.

“But then you play against him and, man, I just want to run over him. I just want to chirp at him.

“That’s f ooty but, no, they’re all great blokes. It’s just a shame they wear a red jumper! You don’t get to this level without being a good person, first and foremost. But that niggle side, you have to stand up for that sort of stuff.

“You know it’s coming. Try and channel it. Don’t let it get to you and when you get a chance to really get physical with ball in hand or in the tackle tackle, that’s when you show s up.”

T h a t ’s the so sort of attitude A Andy Farrell n needs in spades as he p prepares to fa face England w without Sext Sexton, his talisman and an captain. But Lowe said of the No.10: “We’re grand . He didn’t die, he’s still in the building, he’s going to be barking at us all week as he always does but that’s because he really cares. He’s so emotional about this team.” Lowe knows Saturday’s clash will be a step up from his first Test experience, which he was grateful followed a three-week build-up to prepare in camp as he dealt with the “eerie tension” of life at international level.

“This is going to be a completely different beast,” he nodded.

“Wales are obviously a very strong international team but this is a whole new beast.

“To play England at Twickenham, it’s huge and it’s something that you’re either on the front foot or you’re on the back foot.

“We’ll get on with the plan. So will they but emotionally, physically and mentally if we get all our ducks in a row I can’t see why we can’t go ov er th ere and knock them over.

“They ’ ll be saying the same thing i n their camp but really we need to put in a decent performance to come out on top.”