SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: TOMMY BOWE INTERVIEW: JOHN O'SULLIVANtalks to Tommy Bowe who is looking forward to taking on his Ospreys team-mates in the defining game of the season

TOMMY BOWE wouldn’t mind being upbraided by a few of the locals when he returns to his home on the Swansea waterfront next week. To suffer those verbal slings would mean that Ireland had beaten Wales in the Six Nations Championship at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday; a victory embossed with the trappings of history, Grand Slam, Triple Crown and Championship honours.

It’s not that he’s been bestowed with celebrity status in the locality since moving from Ulster to the Ospreys last summer as he laughs: “I don’t need to be walking around with the funny nose and the glasses. I don’t think I am anywhere near the ballpark of (James) Hook and (Gavin) Henson. Mind you if we win, I could run into a few harsh comments.”

Bowe is well versed with the magnitude of the task that Ireland seek to accomplish because on a weekly basis he is reminded of the talent the Welsh team that takes the field in Cardiff possesses, backboned by a host of his Ospreys’ team-mates.

Yesterday’s team announcements either side of the Irish Sea will probably appreciably increase what has been to this point a trickle of test messages.

He smiles: “I’d say a bit of banter might be on its way,” before explaining why this match above all others so far has a very special personal resonance.

“It’s a huge game for the whole team but on an individual basis, whether this was going to be a decider or just a normal international, it was always going to be a massive match for me to come up against quite a few of my team-mates.

“It’s something that I am looking forward to but it will be daunting enough coming up against those boys.”

In Bowe’s first season at the Ospreys he didn’t know what to expect in relation to his new team-mates when making the journey from Ulster, armed only with snippets from the newspapers.

“You hear in the papers more than anything about egos and different personalities and stuff. I was a little bit worried wondering what they were all going to be like. The time I played in the Welsh match last year I hadn’t talked to any of the boys, didn’t know them but Lee Byrne was straight over chatting to me afterwards.

“He introduced himself. They’re a good bunch and I’m looking forward to a bit of banter out on the pitch and hopefully a bit of fun after it. I would be friendly with a lot of the guys but more so with Jonathan Thomas, Lee Byrne, James Hook; they would be the boys I would have hung around with at various stages, going for a cup of coffee and things like that.”

Bowe expects to find himself pitted against Shane Williams and knows that he’s in for a difficult afternoon, although he’d been keen that the traffic wasn’t all one way.

“He’d be a humble guy. He’s a very, very nice guy when you sit and chat to him. I was thinking I might be up against Shane which would have been a nice little battle; I will enjoy.

“Shane rarely sticks on his wing so I will be seeing plenty of the boys, like Shane and Lee Byrne. Hopefully I’ll get a few shots in and won’t be the one taking all the punishment. They have so many dangerous players but sometimes those strengths can be a weakness as well in terms of forcing the pass.

“The amount of 50-50 passes thrown; it only takes one to come off to allow a great line break but the flip side is that one that’s misplaced could lead to an error that would work in our favour. They play a great style of rugby. Obviously with Warren Gatland, they play a slightly different style (to the Ospreys). There’s definitely a structure that he has put in place.

“Obviously I want to be involved in all the matches but it would have killed me not to be part of this game. It’s the biggest game of the championship for me. Everything that accompanies this match – Grand Slam, the Championship – is huge but on a personal basis it is the one I had earmarked.”

Bowe is well aware of the dangers of playing the game in his mind, like some endless loop that threatens to drain physically and emotionally. There has to be an off switch away from the training ground and video analysis duties.

“No I don’t like to get too caught up in it. I’ll get texts from friends and family, wishing me well and telling me they’ll be watching . . . asking me for tickets or what bar we’ll be going to, but it is a case of switching off from that and hanging out with the boys.

“Within the camp it’s great you don’t have to be talking rugby 24/7.

“The Grand Slam has been banned for the last couple of weeks because no one wants to get too ahead of themselves and it will be no different this week.”

Bowe will be hoping that come Saturday night, he’ll be celebrating a Grand Slam, Triple Crown, Six Nations Championship, the bragging rights neatly tucked into his back pocket when he returns to Swansea.