James Lowe made his long-awaited debut in Ireland's 32-9 victory over Wales. Expectations were high for the talented winger but he far exceeded them in a startling display of his skill set.
He had to wait nearly 80 minutes for it, but James Lowe kept his streak of scoring on debuts intact. The Leinster winger scored late in the second half on his debut for Ireland. He had previously scored on his debut for Leinster, New Zealand Māori and the Chiefs. Those 80 minutes likely flew by for someone who has been waiting to play international rugby for 28 years.
Lowe should have made his international debut in 2015 for New Zealand. He was expected to make his debut against Samoa before a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery put him on the fringe of the squad.
There's no pretence from Lowe. He hasn't hidden his disappointment at not being an All Black, "I would have been capped once and then I would have been battling hard every single year...it was a dream for me to play for the All Blacks...you've got to sometimes park dreams and think of opportunity."
Depending on your perspective, that's either refreshing candour or it's proof that Lowe shouldn't play for Ireland. Lowe himself falls into the latter of the two options. But he is playing for Ireland and he has embraced Ireland as his home. Furthermore, his energetic playing style and brutality against contact makes it impossible for anyone to question his commitment.
While Lowe is a potent scorer of tries, it's his all-around game that makes him a certain starter for Ireland.
Jacob Stockdale became a star of Irish rugby from the moment he first wore a green jersey. His struggles since that initial outburst of scoring have been well-documented. Off The Ball's Alan Quinlan has been suggesting Stockdale shouldn't start for more than a year now. Quinlan's primary criticisms of Stockdale have been his defensive lapses, his inability under the high ball and his lack of intensity in kick chase.
It doesn't help Stockdale's case that Lowe excels in all the areas he has struggled. Within the first minute of his debut against Wales, Lowe perfectly executed two plays that Stockdale has repeatedly failed at.
The first is the above kick-chase off of Jamison Gibson-Park's box kick. Gibson-Park puts in a perfectly-placed kick. He drops the ball on the sideline with enough hang time for Lowe to get to the receiver. Lowe's first job is to bend his chase around the Wales defenders filling lanes. He goes inside to come back outside. That puts him in perfect position to hit Leigh Halfpenny and drive him out over the sideline.
Halfpenny sees Lowe coming and understands the physicality his momentum has generated. As you'd expect from such a smart rugby player, Halfpenny draws Lowe in before retreating at an angle infield. He's protecting himself from the sideline without moving himself into a punishing hit. Lowe sees it and redirects with him.
All of his good work prior to the tackle sets him up to make a square tackle on Halfpenny. The Wales fullback has no opportunity to move forward and Wales wind up conceding ground after gathering the ball. Had the two Irish players coming in behind Lowe stayed on their feet, Ireland could have forced a turnover at the ruck or won a penalty.
Instead, Wales retained possession to kick it back to Ireland.
Lowe hit Halfpenny with 18 seconds on the clock. He caught the ensuing box kick with 43 seconds on the clock. The natural ball skills of Lowe allow him to read the ball in the air and explode up through it. He meets the ball at the highest possible point, leaving his feet so the Wales chasers can't touch him. Conor Murray and Hugo Keenan did a good job of legally protecting him too.
Once Lowe gathers the ball cleanly, he bounces off of his own teammate and redirects to move forward with the ball. He breaks the first tackle then drives his legs through the second tackler to finish the play moving forward. Again, the Irish ruckers are poor which allows for a Welsh turnover.
Ireland will need to adjust to Lowe's carries. He is very rarely stopped at the point of contact so the ruckers have to know that they will be driving past the ruck to get over the ball. Retaining possession at the breakdown was a problem throughout this game for Ireland, not just on Lowe's carries.
Another notable aspect of the early stages of the game was the niggle between the two teams. Peter O'Mahony uncharacteristically sought out Alun Wyn Jones after the play was over that led to a talking to from the referee. After Sexton missed Lowe down the wing for a potential try-scoring opportunity, Liam Williams pushed the debutant and he went straight back after him despite the play being over. It led to a second kerfuffle in the first five minutes of the game.
He enjoyed a third 11 minutes in when Justin Tipuric hit him in midfield and he wrestled him on the ground in response.
Matching the opposition's aggression and showing a desire to intimidate them outside of the actual sport itself is something Ireland have lacked since Paul O'Connell retired. You don't typically look to your winger for that kind of energy but it's something Lowe undoubtedly brings to his teammates.
O'Mahoney likely recognized this is something Ireland have been lacking. Lowe was just being who he's always been. Something as simple as Lowe chasing after the ball when Wales kept it away from Ireland after conceding a scrum penalty generates energy that teammates can feed off of. It's an attitude that tells everyone you've come to play and that you're not going to willingly take a step back.
From another perfectly-placed Gibson-Park box kick, Lowe made his second kick-chase of the game. This time the Welsh lazy runners do a better job of shielding him off of the receiver. Liam Williams catches the ball and has space to step inside. But Lowe didn't give up when he was bounced sideways by Owen Watkin. He pushed Watkin aside and got in a good tackle on Williams, trapping the ball-carrier to present for Cian Healy.
Healy didn't have to get involved in the tackle so he could focus on getting in over the ball to win the penalty.
Leinster fans have watched Lowe seamlessly breaking tackles since 2017. It's not just that he breaks a lot of tackles, it's the ease with which he breaks them. Because Lowe doesn't have to think about breaking through arms or gliding past tackle attempts, he keeps his eyes up and his hands free. That means he's always looking for the offload. He breaks tackles effectively while holding the ball with two hands.
In this sequence, Lowe stands behind his pack when the maul forms. He's hiding behind that crowd of bodies while Gibson-Park takes up the first receiver spot infield. Ronan Kelleher stays out of the maul, offering himself as a receiver inside of Gibson-Park. That means Josh Vander Flier has to deliver the ball off the back of the ruck.
Kelleher holds the inside defender as Gibson-Park throws a perfectly-timed skip pass to Lowe.
He hits the hole at speed, allowing him to step through the tackle of Liam Williams in behind the defensive line. Williams didn't bring him down but he turned him and slowed his momentum so Lowe is now looking for his support runners. He gives a good offload to Johnny Sexton before following up Sexton's carry to ruck over the ball. That gives Gibson-Park quick ball and Ireland go on to score their first try of the game.
Exit strategies have been a major point of contention for the Irish rugby team since 2018. Joe Schmidt's Ireland box kicked almost exclusively once they were in their own 22. Andy Farrell's Ireland haven't completely abandoned that strategy, evidenced by Lowe's contribution in the first 20 seconds of this game. But Farrell is showing a greater willingness to vary play from deep.
Rob Kearney gave Ireland a left-footed option in the backfield for more than a decade. He had a big boot on him too to kick down the right sideline. Ireland never used him enough. Lowe has a similar kicking skill set to Kearney but may have an even bigger boot.
On this play, Ireland purposely move the location point of the ruck infield to set up Lowe with a better angle to kick down the left sideline. This is the tougher side for him to kick to but he still manages to put the Welsh lineout exactly on the halfway line.
Ireland steal that lineout and move into Wales territory.
The second half featured plenty of penalties and scrum stoppages. The ball was in play for only 27 minutes for the whole game. Combine that with Ireland being the more dominant team and there weren't a huge number of highlight plays for Lowe in defence. He consistently showed up well with his positioning and reading of the game though. Whenever Wales went wide, he made the right reaction for the right situation.
His standout play of the half was this hit when Wales got quick ball off the top of a lineout in an attacking position.
Eliot Dee hits his man at the back of the lineout and the ball gets back to Dee quickly. It's good, clean ball that finds its way to scrum-half Lloyd Williams in the first receiver position. The extra pass and the quick ball give Wales the opportunity to create an overlap out wide. Lowe is diagnosing the play as it develops and sees an opportunity to strike. He shuts off the opportunity to go wide by coming inside and landing a big hit.
Lowe sees the center drifting wide early. He understands his man is going to have to look inside to catch the ball then turn to get the ball past him. So he also understands that if he times his hit and connects high on the receiver, he can shut the play down there and then.
He does so perfectly, buying the defence a phase to reset itself.
It was a flawless debut for Lowe. He immediately proved his value to Farrell's Ireland and his try was a sign of how much Farrell plans to incorporate him. Ireland's set pieces were strong against Wales, we likely can't expect that to hold true next week against England, but if they are, expect to see Lowe heavily involved. He was the first receiver off of set pieces more than once.
He passed the ball on, hit the line after some initial misdirection and offered himself as the primary carrier. That was how he scored his try.
Caelan Doris, who excelled from start to finish, takes this ball off the deck and draws the first defender. Lowe runs a great line, angled inwards at speed, to break through the defensive line for the score. Doris off the base gives Ireland this opportunity, whereas Stander is less comfortable drawing a defender to make the pass. Having the two Leinster men on the field together gives you a multi-platform attack off of set pieces without ever having to go through Sexton at 10.
That's especially important for moving Ireland's attack away from being Sexton-centric.
Despite his pragmatism about international rugby prior to playing for Ireland, Lowe was clearly emotional in his interview afterwards. The man who had previously said "it's weird that I could be Irish, isn't it? Like, it is weird" looked perfectly at home in green. And he's right, it is weird, but weird isn't always wrong. If you ask Andy Farrell right now, it's very, very right.
Team of Us. Everyone In.
Vodafone. The main sponsor of the Irish Rugby Team
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
