James Lowe's back home, marking time [Nelson Mail]
It clearly wasn't how James Lowe had anticipated spending week five of the Chiefs' 2014 Super Rugby campaign.
Instead of flying with his team-mates to Perth to prepare for Saturday's match against the Western Force, Lowe is back home in Nelson recuperating from the medial ligament knee injury that's expected to sideline him for the next six weeks.
The explosive Makos winger - one of four Tasman players involved in this year's Chiefs lineup - damaged the knee early in the second half of last Friday's convincing 36-20 win over the Stormers in Hamilton, but with only substitute halfback Brad Weber remaining among the backline reserves, Lowe decided to stay on the field. It wasn't until after the game that the severity of the injury became fully apparent.
"I sort of toughed it out and found out the disappointing news after the game," Lowe said.
He's been told by the Chiefs medical staff to keep his weight off the damaged limb, requiring him to use crutches and wear a knee brace for the "next three to four weeks" with a view to getting "back on the track" in about six weeks.
"My hands are starting to blister, so it's not very nice," he joked.
Lowe heads back to Hamilton on Tuesday so will take the opportunity to watch his Waimea Old Boys clubmates take on Nelson in Saturday's opening round of the Nelson Bays club championship at Neale Park.
And while happy to be back in Nelson for the week, it's certainly no holiday, with Lowe expected to complete daily gym workouts to try to maintain his fitness. He said he was "quite limited" in what he could do, but obviously involved working on his upper body conditioning such as sitting down boxing and working on the grinder - "the fun stuff" he said.
Since being with the Chiefs, Lowe's trimmed down to a playing weight of 99kg, so was determined not to waste all the hard work he's done.
"It took me so long to get my body like this, I don't particularly want to throw it all away in these next six weeks," he said. "I was a bit scared dropping a few kgs but I can still run around and still be as physical, so it's paid off."
Although obviously disappointed after such a promising start to the season, including scoring two tries, Lowe remained philosophical about his situation.
"I guess you do have to look at it as a positive. The season runs over such a long period of time [that] I guess you've just got to keep yourself in the best shape that you can with the limited stuff that you can do.
"I just have to make sure that when I come back I'm in a position to fight for a starting spot - that's the harsh reality.
"It's not all bad, it just gives me time to focus on other things. I get to go home to Nelson, which is a lot sweeter than Hamilton, and I guess I get to do more stuff around working with sponsors and getting to know people. The more people you know, the more opportunities are going to arise."
Injury aside, heading from Tasman's successful 2013 ITM Cup campaign into Super 15 rugby has been an incredible experience for the 23-year-old winger.
"It's been awesome to be quite frank. The environment's so welcoming and everyone's just so approachable, whether it be the coaches, the management, the players. I mean you might see [some of] them as All Blacks but to me they're just normal people."
Lowe said that his parents, Geoff and Yvonne, were at Friday's game and were struck by the friendly environment.
"The whole coaching staff went and introduced themselves . . . they were a bit struck by that, they didn't expect that, they didn't feel that these people would know who they were, but they went out of their way to make them feel welcome."
Having his Tasman team-mates Tom Marshall, Liam Squire and Tevita Koloamatangi with him at the Chiefs has helped Lowe's acclimatisation.
"It just shows that you can play rugby in Tasman and go on to play bigger and better things. It's a big step up [from ITM Cup] but in Hamilton, there are so many systems put in place to help with that transition - and none of the boys have looked out of place."
Friday's game also confirmed everything Lowe had heard about the size and strength of South African rugby players.
"They're a lot bigger than anything I've faced, to be fair. But being a bit bigger, they are a little bit slower. You've just got to outsmart them."
