Two tries against the old enemy, it doesn't get much sweeter than that for the self-deprecating Tommy Bowe, writes John O'Sullivan
THE SMILE is never far away. Relaxed, amiable and self-deprecating Tommy Bowe cuts a laid-back figure, a marked contrast to the gimlet-eyed predator on the pitch. Two tries at Twickenham, bringing his tally in 28 Test matches to 13, offered further confirmation of his footballing nous.
The first was essentially a mismatched footrace, the 26-year-old cruising past England flanker Lewis Moody with that familiar long-striding gait to collect Jonathan Sexton’s beautifully weighted grubber-kick. The more celebrated try though will be the one that guaranteed Ireland victory in English rugby’s citadel.
Gliding onto Tomás O’Leary’s perfectly-timed inside pass, he exploited a gaping hole in England’s rearguard. Converting opportunity into points was no mere bagatelle. Some players would have galloped towards the posts but in doing so would have presented a side-on tackle for the covering England wing, Ugo Monye. Inside Bowe sought the inside shoulder, stepping neatly inside the flailing arm and then picking up his feet to step clear of James Haskell’s despairing lunge: a moment of simple beauty. It bore the hallmark of training ground precision, executed flawlessly in the cauldron of the Test arena.
It wasn’t the first occasion in the match that the Ireland backs had opened the playbook on that particular page. Bowe explained: “It was a move we called earlier in the game and we got it wrong. We called it again and it came off. But it’s not really designed to score off first phase; it’s to get us on the front foot and luckily the hole opened up. There is definitely going to be a gap opening up somewhere. It was great lineout ball and Tomás, in fairness to him, made the gap open for me. A guy stepped in and it opened up.”
The England defence won’t enjoy the video analysis but it would be wrong to undersell Bowe’s finish. In recollecting his first try, the Ospreys wing was keen to deflect the credit in Sexton’s direction while also managing to poke fun at Jamie Heaslip. “Ah yeah, it was super vision from him (Sexton) to put me through. It bounced up nicely for me. Jamie was running across and I was trying to tell him to kick it but I should have known better,” he laughed. “Luckily it got to Jonny and he has those skills; it was a great start for him too. He played very well. I mean with the pressure on him, it’s a credit to a young fella stepping up.
“You know the first (try) was very special but I’ve had a frustrating few games. I’ve not maybe been getting involved as much as I had and to get over for that second one at such a crucial time, maybe I showed a bit more emotion that I normally would.
“It was a case of ‘Jeez, get the ball down under the posts’. It’s kind of a surreal feeling. It was great to get what turned out to be the match-winning try, though as it turned out there was still a fair amount of rugby to be played.”
For Bowe it was the perfect antidote to more mundane chores. He is not the type of player to monotonously patrol the touchlines, preferring to be more centrally involved but there are times when good intentions are thwarted by a lack of opportunity. “I’ve had a disappointing couple of games. I’m doing a lot of chasing of the ball at the minute but it was great to get my hands on it a little bit today and hopefully I’ll try to work on that for the next couple of weeks. I’m enjoying my rugby. My strength is chasing a lot of kicks and I enjoy it. But you know there’s still an awful lot more I can give and more I can do with the ball in hand. I’m confident but you know I still know there’s a lot more in the tank.”
The manner of the defeat in Paris cast a pall but it failed to enshroud the Ireland camp. Bowe explained the players and management addressed their shortcomings in a positive manner.
It didn’t chip the confidence but rather acted as a galvanising influence. “After the French game I think that was the first time we had to come into a team meeting and actually be criticised about the defence. In the past year or so it’s been one of our strengths and that’s where we like to lead the game from. We want to build our game on that, attacking from defence, and I think that’s what we did today.
“Credit to the boys up front and the inside backs. We set our platform from that defence. It was super stuff to knock them backwards and it really was the telling sign of our victory, I think.”
The impending arrival of Wales in Croke Park in a little under a fortnight’s time carries a little additional baggage for the Ireland and Ospreys wing. He’ll square off against club-mate Shane Williams; more aware than anyone how difficult it can be to contain the will of the wisp. Bowe’s fervent wish would be to be running in the other direction, just like he did in the Millennium Stadium last season. Twickenham merely reinvigorated a bloodlust without suppressing Bowe’s appetite one iota.
