Fit-again Bowe only thinking positives as critics dismissed

TOMMY BOWE will be more than happy to swap the commentary box for the pitch this Sunday after recovering from the knee injury that kept him out of the first two RBS Six Nations games of the campaign.

After coming through a full 80 minutes of Magners League action for Ospreys last weekend, the winger was recalled to the Ireland side for the game with Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday. And despite the wave of criticism the Irish team received in the games he missed against Italy and France, Bowe is extremely upbeat about the camp he has rejoined. “I think there’s been a little more made of it than what’s being going on at training,” Bowe said in response to reports of anxiety on the practice field.

“Obviously in training you’re trying not to drop the ball and when the small errors creep in I suppose it does get in your head a little bit, but it’s not something we’re worried about.

“We play enough rugby and have dropped enough balls in training over the years that it shouldn’t really transfer into a game.”

Bowe instead preferred to dwell on the plus points of the campaign so far, particularly the development of Ireland’s commitment to running rugby. “I think there are a lot of positives we can take out of it,” he said.

“I think we are spreading the ball a bit and teams are looking a bit ragged, to be able to score three tries against France is very positive and there were times in the Italy match, especially in the first-half, where if we could have held on to the ball we definitely would have scored more tries there too.”

Bowe was in Rome for the narrow win over the Italians on February 5, albeit with a microphone rather than ball in hand. And he admitted he took the diplomatic route with his analysis of the game.

“I took the easy way out,” he joked. “I wanted to be welcomed back again. If I’d gone down a few different people’s routes I think it would have been tough to come back into the hotel again. It’s a delicate balance.”

Meanwhile, Irish skipper Brian O’Driscoll conceded yesterday that his side would have to box clever and vary their game to secure the result so desperately needed after imploding against France in Dublin. The captain insisted there would not be a major move away from their current style despite the change of out halves: “No we will still play our game, we have two (number) 10s who are playing very well and it’s a great position (to be in).

“Our game plan won’t change (significantly), we have the quality and talent to adapt to situations we will find ourselves in, ten is a pivotal position but we have two really good controlling figures.”

However, he conceded the game management against France might not have been as good as it should have been: “As much as we want to play that running game, we have to play a smart game.

“If we only play one type of game you’ll have the analysis done on you; it’s easy for the opposition to put a stop to that so you have to have a variety to your game and mix it up, knowing that you’re constantly keeping defences guessing.”