James Lowe heads into the final of this year’s Mitre 10 Cup with the Tasman Makos on Saturday when they travel to Christchurch to face Canterbury.
The Mitre 10 is New Zealand’s top provincial rugby competition, with seven teams competing in the Premiership Division for a top four spot and place in the play-offs.
Tasman got their Mitre 10 campaign off to a disappointing start with back-to-back defeats to Canterbury (0-39) and Manawatu (35-20).
After that, however, they picked up four wins in a row, scoring 147 points in the process.
Lowe scored his first try in this season’s competition in a 37-35 win over Wellington. This was followed by efforts in the next two games as Tasman defeated Otago and Southland.
Defeat to Taranaki was followed by wins over North Harbour and Auckland. In the final round of games Tasman lost out to Counties Manukau, but knew they had at least fourth-place wrapped up before kick-off.
Tasman defeated Taranaki in their semi-final last weekend, 29-30, to set up tomorrow’s final with Canterbury, with Lowe selected to start on the left wing (live Sky Sports Action, KO 7.35am Irish time/7.35pm local).
On top of his three tries in the competition Lowe has made 810 metres from 107 carries. He has also beaten 17 defenders, made 15 clean breaks and picked up three try assists in his nine games.
This also follows a full Super Rugby season with the Chiefs which saw them reach the semi-finals where they lost out to eventual winners, Crusaders.
Lowe played 16 games in Super Rugby for the Chiefs this year, scoring 11 tries and making 21 line breaks – only Vince Aso (14) and Ngani Laumape (15) scored more tries and only Lowe’s Chiefs teammate Damian McKenzie made more line breaks (22).
Lowe also started for the Maori All Blacks in their defeat to the British & Irish Lions last June.
Once Lowe’s commitments are Tasman are completed, the Maori All Blacks winger will join up with Leinster.
James Lowe – 2017 Super Rugby – Key stats
Games played: 16
Minutes: 1,201
Tries: 11
Try assists: 2
Carries: 137
Metres run: 1,602
Line breaks: 21
Offloads: 32
James Lowe – 2017 Mitre 10 Cup – Key stats
Games played: 9
Minutes: 716
Tries: 3
Try assists: 3
Carries: 107
Metres: 810
Line breaks: 15
Offloads: 14
