Tommy Bowe just has to grin and bear latest setback

Tommy Bowe says he had no option but to smile as he was wheeled off the Principality Stadium pitch last month — having broken his leg 45 seconds after he entered play.

Having worked so hard to regain full fitness after a lengthy knee injury saw him spend 16 months in the international wilderness, the Ulster winger could not believe his bad fortune had returned.

“It was just a grin — you’d either laugh or you’ll cry and I didn’t want to cry in front of 80,000 people,” he said.

“But I just couldn’t believe it, 15 months before I was in that same buggy as I was taken off on in that Argentina match [in the Rugby World Cup]. I’ve some amazing memories from Millennium Stadium but the last couple of times haven’t been great...”

Bowe had come on for Rob Kearney with just one minute of normal time remaining, but was holding his leg and calling for the Ireland medical team less than 45 seconds later, after being taken down by Luke Charteris and Jamie Roberts.

“My leg got caught, I got held up and I think Jamie Roberts landed on it, I heard snap, snap,” Bowe said.

“I was lying there and it wasn’t that sore but Wayne Barnes said: ‘Scrum down to Wales’, I said: ‘Sorry Wayne I think I’ve broken my leg’ and he goes: ‘What, you’re only just on the pitch?’ I said: ‘Yeah I know, I think I heard it snap there’.”

Bowe was taken off the field to applause from both sets of fans, with the subdued Ireland bench sharing the player’s disbelief. One month on, Bowe is wearing a protective boot and rueing how the break put an end to his hopes of a third Lions tour this summer.

“You always have such ambitions, you have such high hopes, I wanted to try and push myself back into Lions reckoning and I believed I was good enough, that if I could get a run of games I could force my way back into the Irish team and that was a possibility,” he said.

“I had to train as hard as I’ve ever trained before, I put everything into it and then to get injured. It was just sod’s law but it’s only a broken bone.”

Some thought this injury, Bowe’s seventh surgery by his own count, would be the end of a glittering career, but the Monaghan man has no intention of leaving just yet.

“People were kind of thinking it was the end of me, if it was my knee again or ligaments again it would have been: ‘Jeez I really need consider this’ but it’s a broken bone. It is so much easier to deal with so it’s never been my intention to retire but some of the messages coming through were heartwarming and encouraging.

“It was a real spur on for me, I feel I’ve a lot more to achieve and my body feels good despite being in a cast.”

There’s one year left on Bowe’s current contract, and he’s keen to push himself back into contention at Ulster and Ireland.

“I’m keen to keep going but at the same time I don’t want to keep going and become a bit-part player, I’m too competitive,” he said.

“I want to keep pushing myself to get into the Ulster squad, into the Irish squad and pushing on for things, otherwise it would be a waste of time.”