James Lowe landed in Dublin back near the start of February. This evening in Italy, James Lowe LANDED.
The New Zealander enjoyed an absolute dream debut for Leinster and gave his new supporters a dizzying glimpse of what he is capable of.
The 25-year-old, signed from Super Rugby’s two-time champion Chiefs, was the stand-out player as Leinster kept up the pressure on Scarlets in the Guinness PRO14’s ‘B’ Conference. Leo Cullen’s men scored five tries, with Lowe helping himself to two and assisting Luke McGrath for another.
Treviso were right in the game until the 55-minute mark but the likes of Lowe, McGrath, Scott Fardy and the returning Garry Ringrose were never settling for that.
Lowe got his side’s first try as he came down the blindside of an attacking Leinster scrum and beat Tommaso Benvenuti to score in the corner.
And that’s a try for @jameslowenz who opens his account for @leinsterrugby to give them the lead against @BenettonRugby touching down in the corner
Catch all the action on @Eurosport and @TG4TV #GUINNESSPRO14#BENvLEI pic.twitter.com/vN4FgqYb9U
— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) December 2, 2017
Jordi Murphy powered over for a try near the end of the half. Ross Byrne converted those scores and nipped another penalty over to leave it 17-3 at the break.
The Italians hit back with a Juan Ignacio Brex score, after the break, but Leinster took that as a slight and ramped it up in the final 25 minutes.
Ringrose scored near the sticks after swivelling and jigging his way in from the right wing. Lowe then teed up McGrath for a score after a sublime Ringrose offload and he was not done yet.
With six minutes left on the clock, he showed strength and determination to get over in the left-hand corner again. Byrne converted and Leinster ran out 36-10 victors ahead of a break for Champions Cup duty.
Lowe’s numbers were quite frankly ridiculous.
Filthy debut from @jameslowenz
👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/F9n6FXfjaR— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) December 2, 2017
He will enjoy himself in that competition too, we’re sure.
