James Lowe happy to play the panto villain as Ulster come to town

PUSH AND PULL: Leinster's James Lowe and Leicester Tigers' Adam Radwan tussle. Pic: Nick Potts/PA Wire.

Tis the season for peace on earth and goodwill to all men. Unless you were James Lowe in Welford Road last week.

It was the Leinster winger who was lumped with the role of panto villain against the Leicester Tigers through a first-half where everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the visitors and Lowe served to inflame the crowd with his anger at a challenge by Adam Radawn.

It all added to what was a right good, old-style European pool game between two of the tournament’s iconic past champions, and at a venue where little more than a hair’s breadth separated players and fans as Lowe and the Leicester Tigers man grappled at each other’s collars off the side of the pitch.

“I don't want to be the villain, but... People give me names all the time,” said Lowe. “Honestly, being called a villain is not a bad thing. People who give me stick about my hair are normally bald. It's all tongue-in-cheek along the way.” There is no residual to it. Not on his part anyway.

He gets it. The tight venue. The time of year. The Friday night: people sweeping out of their offices and into the local boozers before heading for the ground to take on a giant of the game. The way he looks at it, Leinster had little choice but to be the bad guys.

“I'd be chirpy as well if me and a group of mates were down at the game. It's the nature of the beast. There's no harm done. When the final whistle went there's no animosity towards each other by any means.” 

Lowe’s experiences in the first-half were Leinster’s in microcosm, all his good work undone by a handful of clear, obvious and simple mistakes. There was a kick to touch on the full and a butchered pass to Ronan Kelleher for what should have been an easy try.

Mention the word ‘howlers’, though, prompted a cool response.

“Most running metres, most metres post-contact, most defenders beaten, caught all my high balls. I missed one tackle,” he offered by way of riposte. “Actually, me and [Max Deegan] banged each other once.” 

Leinster winger James Lowe. Pic: Grace Halton/Inpho

This speaks for the way Leinster as a collective is being appraised right now. There’s no doubt that they aren’t at their peak. Lowe himself described their form as “clunky”, but they are doing plenty right too.

Down 15-6 to the Tigers at half-time, they had seen a try chalked off for a technical infraction and conceded a length-of-the-field counter after Robbie Henshaw spilled a promising pass in the Leicester 22 after a heavy hit.

But the shed at half-time was calm, serene, and they won with some ease.

The way Lowe looks at it is that they left four tries behind them. Score them and the discourse is not about ‘what’s wrong with Leinster?’ but rather one of, ‘Leinster are back’. The argument can be made either way, but he makes his case well.

“I think everyone in this room is just waiting for it to happen. I don't think that's wrong to say. You can say Man City have been stuttering along and they're two points behind Arsenal at the moment. Everyone's saying they haven't hit their straps yet. Hopefully, we can come the end of the season, hopefully we can be there or thereabouts.” 

Expectation has a lot to do with this debate. Lowe gets that, too.

“You look at our team sheet, you look at everything that comes with Leinster: everyone says we've got all the money in the world, which isn't the case. What do you think… 90 percent of the boys in here are literally from a stone’s throw away. It's a long par-five to get to half of the boys' houses from here.

“Leinster is very, very lucky that a large population are from around here. They love playing here. They don't want to leave. They dream of playing for Leinster. What comes with that is a lot of support and a lot of people who expect you to win week in, week out. That's not the case. The game's evolving. People are getting better. We need to stay ahead of the curve.” 

The visit of Ulster to the Aviva Stadium this week highlights that.

Richie Murphy’s side have looked good this season and resting key players for the Challenge Cup last week suggests a locked and loaded rival rumbling down the M1 on Friday night for a game that kickstarts the festive season of interpros.

Lowe waxed lyrical about Jacob Stockdale, Stuart McCloskey and Jude Posthlethwaite. 

He gave a nod of the head to Nathan Doak and Jack Murphy and pinpointed the work Mark Sexton is doing as attack coach after his summer arrival.

“Put a Sexton in any environment, there is a little going on upstairs. His rugby brain is excellent, I don’t think anyone is going to question that.” 

Leinster’s form is up for debate. They lie just sixth in the URC table after a disjointed start to the season but they are still a team with a target on its back and, as Lowe put it, opponents can sense the blood in the water.

So there’s that, and the usual dislike on both sides with it.

“I do know that. And the feeling is reciprocal. Yeah, in the most respectful way. They will all say it as well. I don't hate Stu. I don't hate Doak. I've met him a few times. I don't hate Tom O’Toole, but I hate Ulster.

“And they will say the exact same thing about us. And that's just the way it is. That's the way the cookie crumbles. It was inherited. It didn't start when I turned up in Dublin. It didn't start when Tomo went up to Ulster. It started years and years ago.”