There are many perks to being a rugby player. Hopping into a shower on one leg, with a black plastic bag wrapped around the other, is not one of them.
Tommy Bowe is still in a knee brace. That is the immediate update.
Bowe is positive about his comeback, although he is positive about most things.
Hobbling into a panoramic suite at the Gibson Hotel, Bowe has been spared the indignity of stripping out of his Ulster shorts and socks to don civilian clothes for media interviews. A sliver of silver to his injury cloud.
The 31-year-old damaged his knee ligaments in that frantic, brutal 15 minutes that effectively ended Ireland’s World Cup. His was the fifth major injury sustained by an Irish player in an unforgiving 10-day stretch.
He has already lay under a surgeon’s knife but will not know his return to play goal until early in the New Year. Bowe cannot wait to be braceless.
He told SportsJOE, “I’ll get it off in January and meet up with the surgeon. Hopefully he will tell me that the surgery was a success, that everything is intact in there and, hopefully, that I can push the rehab at that stage. Unfortunately, it is a bit of slow progress at the moment.”
Having suffered a four-month spell on the sidelines when he wrenched his right knee on the turf of Kingspan Stadium in December 2012. He made it back in time for the 2013 Lions Tour to Australia and started the Third Test despite an arm fracture in a warm-up match.
Having suffered two serious leg injuries – and a groin in injury that saw him miss out on the 2014 Six Nations – Bowe should be getting used to being discomfited.
Not so, he says. It is still annoying as hell.
“Showers are a bit awkward alright,” he remarks.
“Having to put a plastic bin bag up to the top of your leg is a bit of a nuisance.”
He adds, “I couldn’t drive up until a week or so ago. Now that I’m able to get 90 degrees flexion [bending] in it, and can move it pain free, it is okay. I can walk about. I’m off the crutches. Life is a little bit easier than it was a few weeks ago.”
(L-R) Rob Herring, Cheryl Graham (Kingspan Environmental), Bowe, Joe Barakat and Craig Gilroy. Ulster take on Toulouse @KingspanStadium this Friday.
Bowe’s short-term goal is a return to rugby in February or March.
He will be 35 by the time the 2019 World Cup rolls around. Does he have a trip to Japan in his long-term thoughts?
“Jesus! 2019… my God.
“Flip, by 2019 what age will I be? I would never rule anything out.
“I look at the likes of Paul O’Connell, who, when he was 29, 30, he was ravaged by injuries. In the last year or two he has been like a new man. He has reinvented himself and played some of the best rugby of his life.
“He got Six Nations Player of the Tournament at 35. Brian O’Driscoll hung up the boots at 34 so I would never rule anything out.
“To compare myself to those guys, I don’t know, but I’d like to keep playing as long as possible. I still enjoy the game as I did back when I started.”
