There’s no hiding the fact that James Lowe is a New Zealander.
Firstly, there’s the accent. Then there’s the colloqiual phrases – “it’s sweet”. There’s his Instagram username ‘jameslowenz’, and finally, there’s his unhidden desire to play for the All Blacks, a true mark of any New Zealand rugby player.
After announcing that he was leaving the Chiefs and Tasman at the end of the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup campaign, Lowe said:
“This decision has not been an easy one. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be an All Black, but at this stage of my life and for my future, I feel this is the best decision for me.”
That was the very first line of his long goodbye. The first thing that he chose to say, before addressing anything else, was that he was essentially walking away from his dream of becoming an All Black.
The dream was always to wear the silver and black for Lowe, but the reality is that he could, and most likely will, be an Irish international in 2020.
The Leinster winger can become one of the final foreign born players to qualify under the residency rule after moving to Ireland before the start of 2018.
In a hypothetical world, a universe were Jared Payne is still playing professional rugby at 35, Ireland could potentially start a backline with Lowe, Payne, Bundee Aki, Jamison Gibson-Park and Tyler Bleyendaal. Five New Zealanders out of seven positions.
This is not a piece to rail on the pitfalls of the residency rule, that particular fire does not need another tyre thrown into its flames, but rather, this is a piece examining whether the acquisition of Lowe has negated an opportunity for an Irish winger to take his place, as hypothesised by former Ireland head coach Eddie O’Sullivan on RTE’s Against the Head last night.
“There’s no doubt he’s a top end player,” said O’Sullivan.
“The question we had when he arrived is that there’s somebody else going to pay a price for him being there.
“If he’s doing his residency, then there’s a pathway to it. There is a young Leinster back going to lose out because James Lowe has come in. To me, it’s a pity because they have produced great outside backs.
'There is a young Leinster back who is going to lose out because James Lowe has come in, which to me is a pity.' pic.twitter.com/KvTzPEquaN
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) February 19, 2018
“Larmour has come out of that same stable. And there’s some other young Leinster player not going to get an opportunity.
“If we’re talking about planning and strategising and building depth into the squads, then these academy players have to see an opportunity as well.”
Leinster outside backs have seen their opportunities, maybe not necessarily at Leinster, but they have seen and taken opportunities nevertheless.
Jordan Larmour, Adam Byrne and Barry Daly have all come through the Leinster academy to play for the province over the last few years, while former Leinster player Andrew Conway is thriving at Munster with Cian Kelleher and Niyi Adeolokun both competing for places at Connacht.
All of the aformentioned had made their provincial debuts before Lowe had arrived in Irish Rugby.
Irish players are having a hard enough time competing with other Irish players before the likes of Lowe even come into the equation.
Given that Ireland could hypotheticlly soon field a team that would be comprised of over 50% non-Irish players makes a mockery of the residency rule, but with that particular law set to extend to five years from the start of 2020, the acquisition of Lowe should be viewed through the prism of what the New Zealander can add to Irish Rugby as opposed to who he can deny.
Jamie Heaslip speaks at great length of learning from Brad Thorn and his attitudes towards preperation from his brief stint at Leinster in 2012. Ronan O’Gara praises Doug Howlett’s influence at Munster and how the squad learned from him and his attitudes towards culture.
The Leinster players have raved about James Lowe so far during his time in Dublin and he certainly looks as if he has already added to their culture, at least by what we can see on the field.
No one, and I mean NO ONE, enjoys running in to congratulate the forwards more than James Lowe.
Beats Noel Reid and Jordan Larmour across on this occasion. pic.twitter.com/9C7ACFlHCx
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) February 19, 2018
Lowe is not denying an Irish player an opportunity anymore than Gibson-Park, Bleyendaal, Aki, Payne, CJ Stander, Jean Kleyn, Chris Cloete, Gerbrandt Grobler, Scott Fardy or any other foreign international, project player or naturalised Irishman you can think of.
You don’t blame the 15th fox for running its way through the hen house, you lay blame at those responsible for leaving the door open.
However, Lowe has not come through to prey on hens, or in this case outside backs at Leinster.
He is there to fulfill the opposite; to help young players grow and to add to their games, which, judging by his wide variety of offloads, he could cetainly teach the likes of Larmour and Byrne a thing or two about unloading the ball in the tackle.
If there is ever a day where an Irish Rugby team is comprised of less Irishmen then non-Irishmen it will be a glaring indictment of Irish Rugby, but even if that day ever comes, don’t hate the player, hate the game.
