After the best part of a year sidelined by injury, highly rated Abbey Insurance Ulster Academy player Michael Lowry is enjoying being in the thick of the action for the Ulster A team at present.
With an extended Ulster senior squad currently on PRO14 duty in South Africa, it was a very youthful Ulster A side that went down 15-45 to Scarlets A at Shaw’s Bridge last Friday in the second round of the Celtic Cup. Depite the margin of the Scarlets victory, Lowry admitted his side were keen to take the positives from it.
“It was a disappointing result last week but I think a lot of people will learn from it. For a good few of the players it was their first senior game and for me it was my first competitive A game, so we’ll take a lot of learnings from what was a tough game against a good Scarlets team. I don’t think there was much we did wrong; it was just that they were very clinical in what they did. At that level, you can’t switch off for a second. We went down to 14 men and conceded 21 points in that 10 minutes so it is very important to stay switched on or other teams at that level will take advantage.
“But we’ve learnt from it and we’re really excited this week to get another chance at it and a chance to redeem ourselves. We are confident we can push other sides at this level, last week just wasn’t a good reflection on how good we can be.”
Among a backline with an average age of just 19.4, Lowry skippered the side from inside centre. Despite it being his first game at that level, the former Schools’ Cup winning captain admitted the pressure of leading the team out didn’t weigh to heavily on his shoulders.
“Being captain was obviously quite an honour, but in terms of preparation I didn’t prepare any differently. I looked at everything in exactly the same way, just being captain obviously meant you would help other younger people coming through because we had a very young team out including Aaron Sexton who is still at school. Certainly, the experience of being captain of schools sides in previous years really helped.”
This Saturday Ulster A are back in action against Welsh opposition once more, with an away trip to Cardiff Blues A.
“We’ve prepared really well this week and we’re excited to get another go. It’s on a 4G surface at Cardiff Arms Park so I’d say a lot of ball will be flying about and I think both teams are really looking forward to having a go at each other.”
Lowry, along with fellow Academy back James Hume, were recently reunited with former RBAI coach Dan Soper, who guided the lads to a Medallion Shield title and 3 successive Schools’ Cups, when Soper took up the role of Skills Coach with Ulster this summer. According to Lowry, Soper is settling well into his new role in the professional game.
“I’ve been working with Dan for a long time now, it’s four or five years and he hasn’t changed a bit. He’s a good character to have around the place, he knows what he wants out of you and it’s good to have him around. All the boys are really enjoy having him here and everyone is developing their skills nicely.”
With an extended Ulster senior squad currently on PRO14 duty in South Africa, it was a very youthful Ulster A side that went down 15-45 to Scarlets A at Shaw’s Bridge last Friday in the second round of the Celtic Cup. Depite the margin of the Scarlets victory, Lowry admitted his side were keen to take the positives from it.
“It was a disappointing result last week but I think a lot of people will learn from it. For a good few of the players it was their first senior game and for me it was my first competitive A game, so we’ll take a lot of learnings from what was a tough game against a good Scarlets team. I don’t think there was much we did wrong; it was just that they were very clinical in what they did. At that level, you can’t switch off for a second. We went down to 14 men and conceded 21 points in that 10 minutes so it is very important to stay switched on or other teams at that level will take advantage.
“But we’ve learnt from it and we’re really excited this week to get another chance at it and a chance to redeem ourselves. We are confident we can push other sides at this level, last week just wasn’t a good reflection on how good we can be.”
Among a backline with an average age of just 19.4, Lowry skippered the side from inside centre. Despite it being his first game at that level, the former Schools’ Cup winning captain admitted the pressure of leading the team out didn’t weigh to heavily on his shoulders.
“Being captain was obviously quite an honour, but in terms of preparation I didn’t prepare any differently. I looked at everything in exactly the same way, just being captain obviously meant you would help other younger people coming through because we had a very young team out including Aaron Sexton who is still at school. Certainly, the experience of being captain of schools sides in previous years really helped.”
This Saturday Ulster A are back in action against Welsh opposition once more, with an away trip to Cardiff Blues A.
“We’ve prepared really well this week and we’re excited to get another go. It’s on a 4G surface at Cardiff Arms Park so I’d say a lot of ball will be flying about and I think both teams are really looking forward to having a go at each other.”
Lowry, along with fellow Academy back James Hume, were recently reunited with former RBAI coach Dan Soper, who guided the lads to a Medallion Shield title and 3 successive Schools’ Cups, when Soper took up the role of Skills Coach with Ulster this summer. According to Lowry, Soper is settling well into his new role in the professional game.
“I’ve been working with Dan for a long time now, it’s four or five years and he hasn’t changed a bit. He’s a good character to have around the place, he knows what he wants out of you and it’s good to have him around. All the boys are really enjoy having him here and everyone is developing their skills nicely.”