Rowe relishing upcoming opportunity as he works towards Test berth
After a rollercoaster year which began in rugby rehab and renewed acquaintance with redundancy in early summer, recent months have brought a restorative return to normality for Kyle Rowe.
As he prepares to sign off on 2023, opportunity knocks anew for the winger who Glasgow Warriors rescued from the rubble of London Irish’s financial collapse, just as he was putting himself back together again after the trauma of his Scotland debut being ruined by a torn ACL.
Four tries in eight starts for his new club, the latest in last Friday’s URC win over Edinburgh at Scotstoun, have propelled him back into national consideration nearly 18 months after his one and only cap – against Argentina in Salta – ended just 12 minutes after coming on as a replacement.
With Glasgow team-mate Ollie Smith sidelined for the rest of the season with his own ruptured knee ligaments and Warriors captain Kyle Steyn in a race to be fit for the Six Nations after ankle surgery, there is at least one vacancy waiting to be filled in Gregor Townsend’s back-three department.
Rowe previously made Townsend’s training squad for the 2022 tournament, midway through a breakthrough season where he scored 10 tries for Irish in the English Premiership.
That followed a short-term spell at Edinburgh, where he resurfaced after a previous Scotland sevens contract was curtailed by the Covid pandemic and he was forced into alternative employment working night shifts in an Amazon warehouse.
So if Rowe doesn’t receive a call from Townsend as the Scotland head coach prepares to announce a training squad in mid-January, the experiences of the past few years have steeled the 25-year-old for any potential disappointment.
“With the stuff that I’ve been through, with rugby taken away from me through no fault of my own, it’s made me a lot more resilient,” he said. “If I do face setbacks in rugby, I know it’s not the end of the world as I’m still in the professional set-up and it stands me in good stead.
“If I am not playing well, or I am not getting picked, I know it’s not going to affect me massively – I just need to keep working hard at training and try to get picked again.
“Of course, it’s always an ambition to play for your country. With me only having one cap, I don’t want to just stop there. I want to play for Scotland as many times as possible.
“When I made my debut over in Argentina, it was in the forefront of my mind to try and get a game at Murrayfield, but I did my ACL and that never happened. This season it’s been about finding good form and you never know what might happen.
“I just want to go out and do my thing and if I get picked for the Six Nations, great. If I don’t, I’ll be at Glasgow hopefully playing week in and week out and just trying to stay in good form here. Going up against the two starting Scotland wingers is a big opportunity for me.”
Saturday’s return fixture against Edinburgh at Murrayfield – which doubles as the second leg of their annual 1872 Cup contest – will again see Rowe come into direct competition with Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe, who when fit have generally filled the number 14 and 11 shirts for Scotland over the past couple of years.
Steyn has shown himself to be a more than capable deputy for either with 10 tries in 15 Tests, but with only two games in January – Glasgow’s remaining Champions Cup pool games against Exeter and Toulon – to prove his fitness before the Six Nations, time is against the Warriors captain.
Rowe’s ability to play full-back, where Stuart Hogg’s retirement and Smith’s untimely injury have left Blair Kinghorn as the only specialist option, may work in his favour as Townsend assesses his options.
“I’ve played there a few times so it wouldn’t be a shock to the system,” he said. “It would be just getting comfortable again with those 15 positions in both defence and attack.”
That adaptability has served Rowe well since his agent called in mid-2021 to tell him London Irish were looking for a back-up back-three player.
“I basically said I would take anything at that point, because I didn’t have anything past that summer when I was in training with Edinburgh,” he recalled.
“I think it was good to get out of my comfort zone in Scotland, where you know everybody.
“Everything came off the back of me leaving family and everything, and just taking a shot in the dark really because I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen. Going down to London, it is such a big place and I didn’t know anyone so it was quite a shock to the system at the time, but it has definitely made me a better player and a better person.
“Coming back to Glasgow, my main focus was to hit the ground running in pre-season and fortunately I’ve been able to find good form and play a decent bit of rugby.”
Saturday will be the first time Rowe has played at the national stadium since scoring a try to help Ayr pip Heriot’s in the Scottish Cup final in 2019 alongside current Warriors team-mates Stafford McDowall and Smith, a week after his brace of tries in a league decider against the same opposition.
“That’s one of the only times that I’ve played at Murrayfield, so it has good memories,” he said. “We won the league the week before then completed the double with the cup. It was a pretty special week for me and Ayr as a club.”
If Glasgow can repeat their storming of Murrayfield at this time last year, when a stunning second-half display saw them run out 32-25 winners, a second successive double over their inter-city rivals would cap a similarly special week for Rowe and Warriors.
“It’s one of the oldest cups in the world so it’s a big thing for both clubs to play for,” he added. “And with it coming just before the Six Nations, there’s always going to be that competition against your opposite number for those Scotland places. We don’t get too pumped up during the week but when Saturday comes, that’s when you get all your emotion out.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Naaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
2 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
142 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
142 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
142 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
142 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
142 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
142 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
142 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
142 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
142 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
142 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
142 Go to commentsHo hum.
142 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
142 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
142 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
142 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to comments