'No regrets at all': Ben Mowen opens up on decision to quit Wallabies captaincy six years ago
Ben Mowen sent shockwaves throughout Australian rugby six years ago when the then-Wallabies captain left his national duties behind to pursue an opportunity in France.
Mowen was named as the captain for the Grand Slam tour in November of 2013, after having made his test match debut just four months earlier.
But after donning Australian gold in 15 test matches, the back rower announced his decision to leave Australian rugby behind to sign with French club Montpellier on a three-year-deal.
At the time, Mowen was adamant that he wouldn’t end up regretting his decision to quit the captaincy and head overseas.
Reflecting on his choice all these years later, the 35-year-old opens up on just how difficult it was to leave, but why he still wouldn’t change a thing.
“Even though I knew the timing was right in my decision, it was extremely tough to give up because that’d been the only thing that I’d dreamt about since I was a little fella,” Mowen told RugbyPass.
“I had a sticker above my bed since the age of three saying ‘I want to be a Wallaby’, and that’s all I’d ever wanted to be. To achieve that goal was amazing for me and is certainly something that I cherish.”
After stints at the Reds and Waratahs, Mowen appeared right at home playing for the ACT Brumbies in Super Rugby, including captaining the side in the 2013 final against the Chiefs in Hamilton.
It proved to be a big year for the loose forward, who made his Wallabies debut during the “travelling expo of rugby-mad people” that was the British and Irish Lions tour. He got his first cap playing blindside flanker in his hometown of Brisbane.
Following the 2-1 series loss to the Lions, Robbie Deans stepped down as the national coach and was replaced by Ewen McKenzie for the Rugby Championship. McKenzie’s tenure began with a run of poor performances, losing four matches out of six and slumping to a third-placed finish.
McKenzie made a headline decision for the opening match of the end of year tour, dropping James Horwill as captain and replacing him with Mowen, who had previously become Australia’s 80th captain against Argentina in Perth.
Mowen led his side to a near Grand Slam, losing to England by seven points at Twickenham before beating Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
RA is set to rebuff a proposal by NZR for an eight-team competition featuring just two Australian teams, but Rennie is confident a solution will be brokered between the two nations.https://t.co/HuF1tUECxz
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 7, 2020
Reflecting on his first tour captaining the Wallabies, Mowen seemed proud of his sides efforts as they overcame the “challenge” of the change in coach to finish on a high.
“We went through some tough periods there, a couple of close, tough losses to the All Blacks and South Africa.
“To pop out the other side of that and have a really good finish to the year where we won five of our six final games and to just miss out on the Grand Slam, was pretty special.”
In January following the tour, Mowen announced his decision to put family above what he’d been dreaming about since he was three. Just a year out from the World Cup in England, Mowen left those aspirations behind to experience more of what the game could offer.
While his time playing in Australia wasn’t perfect, Mowen still has “no regrets at all” about moving on.
“I’d always had in the back of my mind that I wanted the full rugby experience, which for me entailed living overseas – not just for a year or two but for a period of time to have a base over there to travel, but to enjoy the different lifestyle and get exposed culturally off the field.
“I knew in my final year of Australian rugby that that would be that year; that I’d have to make some big decisions.
“I felt comfortable and I felt that I’d given a good portion of my dedicated life to it, and that I was ready for something else. The timing worked out really well.
“I would’ve liked to have been part of a period in Australian rugby where we won some silverware, we obviously came very close with the Brumbies losing the Super Rugby Final, and we missed the Grand Slam tour by a try against England.”
Mowen put to pen with Montpellier to prioritise time with his then two-year-old daughter Eleanor, signing a contract that kept him at the club in 2016.
But after leaving Les Cistes, he continued his career and experiences in France with a deal at Pau. In Pau he opened a café with his life Lauren called BEANZ, which still operates today.
While his three children, two who were born in France, are all fluent in French, Mowen laughed off his ability in comparison before describing just why his time overseas was, as he said, “perfect.”
The Highlanders have named a settled team to face off against the Crusaders on Sunday, making just one change to their starting side.https://t.co/Gqbi7X1HPZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 6, 2020
“We took our two-year-old daughter Eleanor, and in the first years I hadn’t been able to spend a whole lot of time at home with her. Then to have the kids over there and pretty much spending one or two nights away a fortnight maximum; each day I brought the kids to school, picked them up from school, it was a balanced family life.
“My wife’s restaurant was in the heart of town so she’d ride her bike in, everything was centred around family and balance.
“I wouldn’t change that for the world. You’ve got to chase your dreams with absolutely everything you’ve got, and I think that’s why I felt really comfortable making that decision because I poured everything into it.”
Mowen and his family began their move back to Australia towards the backend of 2019, where he offered his services to his junior club for their finals push.
Easts Tigers ended up qualifying for the first round of finals in Queensland’s Premier Rugby competition, with the number eight helping out the side coached by former Fijian captain, Mosese Rauluni.
He added that returning to his boyhood club was a fitting end to his career, with it all being part of his plan to go full circle with his playing days.
“Right from when I started my professional career, I always wanted to finish with one good year at clubland, not just playing a game or two at the end like last year but giving an actual full season. I feel really blessed that that’s worked out the way it has and that I get to do that with my junior club.”
Mowen ran out for the Tigers in their first match of the delayed season last Saturday, named as the captain of the side.
But after taking up an opportunity with the Junior Wallabies in January, he has his sights set on a coaching career after his playing days are over.
“I’ve always felt that I’d be a better coach than a player. One of my main skill sets as a player was that I was a good leader because I was a good organiser of people.
“The last two years or two of my footy career, I was more excited about moving into that aspect of footy rather than the playing [side].”
Mowen is also working part-time with the Queensland Reds academy, while the Junior Wallabies campaign has been put on hold for the foreseeable future.
Comments on RugbyPass
first no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to comments