Bowe on the try trail against future teammates

TOMMY BOWE today faces 10 Welshmen who’ll become team-mates next season at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea.

Ospreys, a regional amalgamation of two historic Welsh clubs, Neath and Swansea, have designs on European domination and new signing Bowe will be a major player in their pursuit of northern hemisphere supremacy.

Monaghan’s best known rugby export will be missed at Ravenhill. The haemorrhaging of indigenous talent from Ulster to cash-rich clubs across the water in the coming season – Roger Wilson and Neil Best move to Northampton — could impact upon Matt Williams’ rebuilding programme.

The Australian must be wondering why someone like Bowe, on the cusp of fulfilling his potential this season, has been allowed depart without some IRFU hard bargaining; something they’re not averse to when fighting to keep Ireland’s other elite players at home. Perhaps, he’s not viewed by blazerdom in the same way as a Shane Horgan or an Andrew Trimble but, at Ospreys, he’s likely to blossom on another branch of the Celtic family.

Still, it appears he was keen to leave and to broaden his world view. He consulted Eddie O’Sullivan and Williams but, in the end, felt he “wanted to test himself” against some of the best players in the world.

Explained Bowe: “I had a few long chats with Eddie. This wasn’t a decision I took lightly. I made the decision a good few months ago that I really wanted to get out of Ireland and play rugby with another team to open my horizons.

“I had a couple of chats with Matt of course and he was keen for me to stay. But it wasn’t anything to do with Ulster really. It was more for myself. It was something I wanted to do.”

Bowe could be on the cusp of some great days with Ospreys. However, while giddy about the move, he will be devoting all his energies for the remainder of the season to Ulster and Ireland.

“I’ve chatted to the Ospreys coaches and met Nikki Walker (Ospreys winger) after the Scotland match. I’ve been over to the Liberty once and want to get over there a few more times before I move. But that’s not really something I’ve been thinking about too much. When I’m with Ulster, I’m with Ulster. I don’t like to really throw my mind off it. And now similarly, I’m with Ireland so I want to keep my focus on the job at hand.”

He is in his fifth season with Ulster and yet youth is on his side; he has just turned 24. He has been in and out of national sides, missed the cut for the Rugby World Cup last year but never gave up the hope of playing for Ireland again. He remembers two years ago he got an opportunity with Ireland (against France in Paris), in many ways similar to recall for the Scotland match two weeks ago but didn’t fully grasp the opportunity.

While once he might have sat on the wing, waiting for something to happen; now he admits to being more proactive.

“Obviously it was daunting,” he says of the Scotland match. “Running out on the pitch was very exciting and the anthems were something else. Unfortunately it took me almost 20 minutes before I got a touch of the ball which didn’t do anything to settle the nerves. Once I got my hands on the ball, I was very happy. I maybe didn’t get my hands on it as much as I would’ve liked — it’s something that I’ll definitely want to up this week.

“But to come away with two tries can be regarded as a good day.”

Despite his scoring feats the last day against the Scots, he was viewed as a potential fall guy if Shane Horgan was to come straight into the side. Bowe survived but owing to a backline reshuffle in the absence of full backs, Geordan Murphy and Girvan Demspey, Bowe now shifts to Robert Kearney’s wing and Horgan comes into his “favoured” No 14 position. The Ulster man is not complaining though. “I’ve played at 14 pretty much most of the time for Ulster so there would be a slight preference there but at the same time I’m easy.”

He does, however, feel piqued for the lack of credit he gets for crossing the whitewash. His current strike rate for Ireland is five tries in 11 outings, and today he has eyes on outsmarting a few Ospeys on the wings.

“I like to think that I score tries — it’s the main role of a winger. A winger who can’t score tries just shouldn’t be playing there. I maybe don’t get too much credit for scoring as many tries as I do but it’s something that I look at personally and pride myself on. This season for Ulster I haven’t had a great strike rate and I haven’t been very happy with that.

“But scoring is what we (wingers) are based on. Denis Hickie was a great winger, scored an awful lot of tries. Christian Cullen was another try-getter, and he always scored a heap of tries. So these are the type of guys that you have to mould yourself on.”

“If I can get another try or two (today) I’d be over the moon obviously. But first things first and that’s stopping Wales from getting their Triple Crown.”