Bowe demands Irish intensity to shake Springboks

WHEN the dignitaries have been met, the anthems sung, and the whistle blows on Saturday, the start of the opening Test match to be played at the Aviva Stadium will be as predictable to Tommy Bowe as the ceremonials that preceded.

Ireland host world champions South Africa in Dublin 4 at the weekend and fully expect the welcome mat at their new stadium to be trampled under foot by a revved-up Springboks team eager to end a three-game losing streak in the capital.

As far as Ospreys wing Bowe is concerned, Ireland have to match that inevitable Bokke intensity from the off if they are to make it a fourth victory in succession and get the autumn internationals off to the perfect start.

“We’re on our own pitch so we’re going to be the ones who want to bring that intensity and we’re not going to be waiting for South Africa to just run at us,” Bowe said, after his selection on the right wing. “It’s up to us on our own pitch at the Aviva Stadium to bring the game to them.”

Facing the South Africans, Bowe said, will represent a massive increase in physical effort from all that has gone before this season.

“Their game is based on physicality and bullying the opposition and if we don’t match that, then we’ll be sent back with our tails between our legs.”

The British & Irish Lions’ first Test against the Springboks in Durban was as intense as it got for Bowe as the South Africans stampeded like rhinos across the veldt at the tourists, storming into a 13-0 lead after 25 minutes before Ian McGeechan’s side had known what hit them.

If it had been a cartoon, Bowe and company would have had tweeting birds circling above their heads as the Boks set in motion a 26-7 lead that the Lions did well to claw back to a 26-21 final score.

“That was brutal, the first 20 minutes,” Bowe recalled. “They came at us with an intensity I’d never experienced before and I know they’ll probably want to try and replicate that.

“But we won’t want to give them that 10 to 20 minutes of dominance like they had then.

“They start out of the blocks and it’s very difficult to deal with but the only way to deal with it is to do the same thing.”

With Samoa, New Zealand and Argentina to follow in consecutive weeks, having South Africa up first into Irish rugby’s rebuilt home is a mouthwatering beginning for the Ireland wing.

“It’s a massive challenge for the first week of the autumn but it’s a huge opportunity for us,” Bowe said. “It’s a great spectacle to be back in the Aviva Stadium, which is really the home of Irish rugby. Croke Park was brilliant for us, we had a great spell there, but to be back into Lansdowne at Aviva Stadium is brilliant and it’s a great opener to be playing South Africa.”

Aside from the Springbok’s perceived problems after a miserable Tri-Nations, Ireland have issues of their own to settle having lost five matches in a row, three of them Tests, stretching back to a closing Six Nations home defeat to Scotland at Croke Park.

There followed a Thomond Park defeat to the Barbarians before a disappointing summer tour where Test defeats to the All Blacks and Wallabies sandwiched a loss to the New Zealand Maori.

“We’re a side who want to be getting back to winning ways, with the World Cup looming,” Bowe said. “So we’d want to be getting back to the style of play that we were (playing) when we were beating the top teams in the world this time last year.

“We know what’s at stake and know they’re on the back of a few losses so it’s a great opportunity to get another good win against South Africa.’’

With the new interpretations of rugby’s laws concerning the breakdown and other areas producing a more open, running style during the Tri-Nations, which saw an almost 100% increase in tries scored from the previous year’s championship, Bowe is hoping Ireland can complete the conversion to a more mobile style in the coming weeks.

“We want to bring our game on. Watching the Tri-Nations you could see that the tempo of the game has really moved up a notch.

“We want to play a type of rugby where we’re working the opposition and trying to get on the front foot and playing a bit of rugby. It suits me to a T. It’s just trying to get myself involved and get my hands on the ball.

“We are trying to play more open rugby. We played a certain style of rugby that got us to the Grand Slam but we’re trying to build our game and move to another level. It was a disappointing summer but I think we’re going in the right direction.”