When James Lowe arrived in Ireland in late 2017, he used to joke about the defensive game he brought with him from New Zealand. Stuart Lancaster had been with Leinster for about a year and Lowe’s casual relationship with defensive requirements met with Lancaster’s attention to granular detail. For Lowe that was a head wrecker. But his ball game got him into the Ireland team in the autumn of that year, scoring a try in his debut against Wales.
Later in the following year’s Six Nations championship, some of the defensive shortcomings were exposed in the early rounds and he didn’t make the team for the final match against England. Irish coach Andy Farrell mentioned, at the time, that Lowe’s preparation for matches was sometimes sketchy. But he was never short on work.
“James had a little bit of a wake-up call. He went away and understood how he needed to prepare for international rugby,” said Farrell two years ago.
Following quite a refurb of approach, Lowe’s defensive game has become an eye-catching part of what he gives to Leinster. Heavy tackles, clean outs and holding up bigger ball carriers has allowed him to become one of the leading all-round wingers in the game. The tries have not stopped coming either.
“Stu [Lancaster] would have done a bit of everything,” he says. “He would have dipped in and out of the attack and the phase shape and the ‘D’. “Jacques [Nienaber] is mainly a defensive mastermind and he has brought in a completely different defensive system and it is working. I can understand why South Africa were so successful under him. They’re different but they are both world-class in their own right.
“Jacques actually told us a funny story about his first match in charge, I think it was against Argentina and they went down 17-0 in the first 20 minutes sort of thing and he was the [Springbok] defence coach. They ended up winning by five or seven points, but he was like, ‘look, sometimes teams are going to pick you off, but at the end of the day it is percentages and we will get more than we give’. Hopefully. I’ll tell you in a few months’ time if it works.”
After last year’s World Cup Lowe took a break and had “some TLC and sun”. He then came back and played in all of Ireland’s games in the Six Nations, 80 minutes in each. Not a player to over-complicate his role, his rule of thumb is to take his cue from the Leinster centres.
“As a winger, for me to simplify it, I just follow my centres,” he says. “If he goes in, I go in. If he stays out, I stay out. That’s how you get the balance. How we defend here, it’s the line speed. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Winning the collisions makes it a lot easier.”
Lowe has cut his cloth well and in tandem with being a dashing player and never far from the ball, games rarely pass him by. Enjoyment is part of the package and integral to how he competes. It is one of the important drivers of his game. At 31, he still plays the high-energy, scattergun role that Farrell once called untidy. But it is hugely effective and comes with infectious enthusiasm and an ability to stay relevant in matches.
Right now, he is only getting going for Leinster with just three appearances and two tries, including one last Friday against the Bulls. But despite his touchdowns the mantra of defence winning matches has been embedded.
“I can’t complain,” he says. “No one is trying to give me s**t anymore. That’s always good. I was always a bit joué and in New Zealand there probably wasn’t as much focus on it [defence] as there is now. I’ve also been seriously lucky to work with some of the best centres in the world.
“Even having Sexto [Jonathan Sexton], weirdly enough, as my 10. He would say ‘I just look at you and whatever you do I do the opposite, so if you can be as patient as you can, then it just makes my job so much the easier’. So, getting good reads and getting good profiles in the tackle and managing to hit some people ... so it is going all right.”
As he speaks, Lowe is sitting near a wall in the Leinster meeting room that bears a collage of Leinster teams and players celebrating with trophies. Some of the players have long since departed, but it serves as a reminder of where Leinster have been and expect to be most seasons.
With Leicester arriving this weekend for the beginning of the knock-out stage of the Champions Cup, it seems more pertinent than ever.
“Yeah,” says Lowe. “We are coming into the important end of the season. The only way you measure it at the end, whether it’s been a good season or not, is trophies. We have been in this position before and come up short. I’ve lost three different [European] finals so far ... that’s a pretty s**t stat to have. It’s one game at a time. That’s the cliche. We are crossing all the Ts and dotting all the Is to make sure we understand Leicester in the build-up.
“Come Saturday hopefully we have trained enough and watched enough not to be surprised at anything.”
In 2016 maybe. Not any more.
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