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8
TOMMY BOWE
QUESTION TIME WITH
TOMMY BOWE
With three wins from three in the opening PRO14
games, how does the team feel about the start
to the season?
We’re delighted. Obviously, a winning start is very
important and we’ve been playing some good
rugby. There is still a lot to work on but we are all
really enjoying it. Pre-season went well, we put in
a lot of hard work and hopefully we will continue to
see the rewards of that work. To have beaten last
year’s champions, the Scarlets, at home was a great
win for us and something that we’ll keep trying to
build on over the next few weeks
Looking back at the Scarlets game in particular
- it wasn’t the perfect performance, but the team
showed tremendous fight to grind out the win
against a quality opposition?
It was always going to be a difficult match against
the Scarlets. They are a team on form and as I said,
last season’s title winners. The game highlighted
what we need to work on but I think that the fact
that we went behind twice in the game to then come
back and win shows the fight within the squad.
Mentally the squad are in a great place, there’s huge
belief within the team and hopefully we can spring
board on from that. We know there will be bigger
games to come so we’ll learn from last weekend,
grow from there and be ready for those bigger
games when they come.
You’re getting plenty of game time under your
belt now. How are you enjoying being injury
free?
I broke my fibula in March during the Six Nations so
to miss the end of the season was very frustrating.
But I’ve had a really good pre-season, I’m really
enjoying my rugby and hope to get more game
time over the next couple of weeks. I’m in a good
place at the minute, the body feels good and I’m
just focusing on enjoying my rugby - that’s what it’s
about.
Ulster supporters would be more used to seeing
you playing on the wing, but you’ve started 2 of
the 3 games of the new season at centre. Firstly,
how did that come about, and secondly, how are
you enjoying the fresh challenge?
Les Kiss and Dwayne Peel came to me with the
idea of playing at 13. I had played a lot of 13 over in
Wales and on a few occasions for Ulster and I enjoy
the challenge - you get a little bit more involved
and you get your hands on the ball a little bit more.
We have such strength and depth throughout the
backline meaning the competition is so fierce while
the option of being able to play on the wing and
centre is a good asset to the squad.
We saw some nice pictures of you with your wife
and baby daughter after the game on Friday
night. How are you juggling those new family
commitments with your rugby?
Emma has been at 1 or 2 of the matches. It does
get her out of her rhythm but she seems to be
enjoying it and isn’t kicking off too much. She is
six months old now, so she’s getting big. She’s
a lot more alert and smiling, which makes it a lot
more fun to come home to as opposed to the early
months when it was very difficult not getting much
sleep. I found those initial months difficult, the
training and pre-season was tough, meaning I was
coming home very tired and poor Lucy was having
to do the majority of the work. But now the matches
have started, we’ve found our routine, I’ve a little bit
more free time at the weekends so I am enjoying the
opportunity to help out more.
Tonight, we face the Dragons at Kingspan
Stadium, what sort of challenge do you think
they’ll pose?
The Dragons will be difficult. They’re always a
difficult team to come up against. They have a lot of
young guys coming through who are playing some
great rugby at the minute so there are a lot of fellas
that we’re going to have to keep an eye on but to be
playing at home again is something we are up for.
The team love playing in front of the home crowd.
The atmosphere at the last two home matches
has just been unbelievable and we hope that we
can keep putting on a good show for the crowd, to
deliver high class rugby to keep them coming back
and standing up for the Ulstermen.
We spoke to the two-time British and Irish Lion to get his thoughts on Ulster’s
start to the season, the challenge posed by the Dragons and how he is
managing to juggle his family commitments with his other great love, rugby.