PLAYER OF THE match James Lowe saluted “great dude” Caelan Doris on his first outing as an Ireland captain after Andy Farrell’s side brushed aside Italy in a bonus-point, 36-0 victory at the Aviva Stadium.
Try-scorer Lowe, who ran amok in the second half, also paid testament to Jack Crowley — albeit with tempered praise of his out-half whom he says hasn’t yet mastered Johnny Sexton’s mannerisms.
Lowe, who gave a measured assessment of Ireland’s performance, commended Doris for his “outstanding” pre-match speech, adding that it was “to the point, emotional, direct”.
“It was like he’s done it before”, Lowe said of his Leinster colleague, “and fair play: he took it all in his stride and played outstanding.”
The 31-year-old wing unleashed his left boot from its holster and bombed the ball in behind Italy a couple of times early in the second half, helping to beat some of the fight out of Gonzalo Quesada’s side.
His distance kicking has been one of Ireland’s most potent weapons throughout two rounds of the championship, and Lowe explained that while he has “always been able to kick a ball”, he has begun to practice it more in keeping with its increased value in the game.
“Fortunately, being a left-footer is a bit of a ticket in his game at the moment. I work on it week in, week out. and then put myself into positions to be able to use it.
“We’re getting better purchase when we kick long instead of contestables.
“It was a weird one, I had no kick pressure (against Italy). Normally, [Antoine] Dupont is screaming down my channel. Come this week, [Stephen] Varney; they’d done their homework so I dished it off to Crowley a few times.”
Asked for his impressions of Munster’s out-half, who scored his first ever senior try in his second Six Nations start this afternoon, Lowe said of Crowley: “He’s got a lot of pressure on him. There have been some world-class 10s come before him.
He’s taken it in his stride, bossing it around week to week. He hasn’t quite got that Sexton aura about him. He hasn’t got the staredown yet. He’s awesome, he growing into it.
“He slotted into 15 as well, fair play to him, he’s a young man with a good head on his shoulders and he could go far.”
