Bowe so eager for action after op

Tommy Bowe is relishing a return to competitive rugby after recovering from surgery undertaken in April.

The Irish international underwent an operation on a haematoma, a localised swelling filled with blood, which was pressing on his left kidney.

“It wasn’t career-threatening but the surgery to remove the haematoma was fairly severe,” Bowe explained yesterday. “It’s the sort of operation older people go through. I was in bed for a couple of days and it wasn’t pleasant.

“It’s a very grey area, such a rare thing, that there was no evidence to say whether removing the haematoma was going to work. It was ‘this looks like the most logical thing to do, what do you think Tommy?’

“I could have continued playing and just left it there, with the hope that it might eventually come down. But I thought it’d always come back to that.

“I was going to have to have it removed at some stage so I thought ‘let’s do it now, hopefully it will last’ and it looks like it has.”

He got the all-clear last week and is participating in contact training but tomorrow night’s mouthwatering RaboDirect Pro 12 clash with Munster at Ravenhill comes just too early. Instead, he is likely to get his second Ulster stint going away to Zebre next week. It is his first experience of the IRFU’s player management policy, having been on round-the-clock duty with Ospreys.

“To get back is great but having been out for three months, I’ve lost a huge amount of fitness, a huge amount of strength. So it’s probably taken a little bit longer coming back from it.

“(With Ospreys) I probably played through a few niggles that I shouldn’t have. You’re never at full fitness. I was missing training just to be fit to play matches. I think the welfare system in Ireland has made me take a step backwards. They say ‘we need you at top flight. So whether that makes us take it back a week or two to help you iron out those niggles, make sure you take that time and get yourself full fit.’

“I want to play. There were weeks I was going game-to-game, not training, just getting out on the pitch. You were going out on the pitch not feeling great. Looking from the outside into the Irish squads, they looked fit, looked energetic. You could see them being able to take it up a step. I think (the player management system is) great. Now I’m back here and able to avail of it… time will tell but hopefully (I will benefit).”

There were some reports linking Bowe with a possible return to Ireland with Munster once his successful four-year tenure in Wales concluded. He has tremendous admiration for the southern giants but once his native province expressed an interest, it was a no brainer. “There were whispers. It was more Munster supporters and people that were saying it to me. I get on extremely well with the Munster lads, I have so much time for them. Whenever I’m in Irish camp, I hang out with the Munster boys as much as anyone. There’s a real good buzz around the team, real, good craic. Munster would’ve been a team I would have had absolutely no qualms about going to if Ulster weren’t interested. But once they were interested, there was only one place I was going to go.”

* Tommy Bowe is a brand ambassadors for Kinetica sports nutrition range. For more visit www.kineticasports.com.