“Guys, you need to get a song about where you come from!”
Back when Willie Anderson was coaching at the Ulster Rugby academy – overseeing the development of players such as Michael Lowry, Stewart Moore, Nathan Doak and James Hume – he was always perplexed when it came to the sing-songs.
Instilled in him from his amateur rugby days, Anderson loves nothing more than a good song (or 10) after a game. Actually, before a game or during a game. Whatever you’re having yourselves.
“In my time at the academy,” the former Ulster and Ireland lock tells us, “I was always encouraging the boys to sing. They would take out their phone [for the lyrics] and sing some sort of song that Madonna did!”
Anderson speaks highly of Tom O’Toole, Dave McCann, Moore, Doak, Hume and Rob Baloucoune – “that guy is going to be a future British & Irish Lion” – but his face really lights up when he comes to Lowry.
Michael Lowry of Ulster dives over to score his side’s third try against Northampton Saints. (Photo by Paul Harding/Sportsfile)“The guy that stood out for me as a real warrior, and somebody you could trust and respect to the nth degree, was Michael Lowry.
“His size, his guts, his leadership and, as a person, he epitomised the values that we would have had back in the 1980s. A great person on the pitch, and he will not back down from any size of a man, and a total gentleman, and great craic off the pitch. That’s what you need.”
Tipped for the top, from a long time back
Michael Lowry had just turned 20 when he made his senior Ulster debut in a 64-7 trollying at the hands of Munster. Business would soon pick up, though. He started, and looked immediately at home, in a Champions Cup win over Leicester Tigers.
On our House of Rugby show, former Ulster and Ireland winger Andrew Trimble revealed he had received a tip from someone involved with the schools team at Royal Belfast Academical Institution – ‘Keep an eye on this lad called Michael Lowry’. This was back in 2015. Trimble joked that he immediately sought out a book-makers that would take a small sum on Lowry one day representing Ireland at Test level.
Seven years on, he has been named as fullback to face Italy in the Six Nations. Trimble will not be the only one celebrating.
Darren Cave played with Lowry, and saw him coming through the academy system, before he retired in 2019. In January 2021, he was pressing for Lowry to get a chance in that year’s Six Nations.
“Michael Lowry is another guy that definitely offers something a bit different. I know [at five-foot-seven] he is one of the smaller guys who is out there playing professionally, but his footwork is something that… we’ve seen the likes of Cheslin Kolbe and he’s someone that, the more he plays, he’s going to keep putting his hand up. I’d say he’s definitely on the international coaches’ radar.”
Lowry was on the radar and was called in to a couple of Ireland camps, but it would take another year – and another rake of fine outings at outhalf and fullback for Ulster – before Andy Farrell stuck him in for his Test debut.
On the day of his international bow, one Ulster fan shared a lovely story about Lowry that sums up the humble, helpful character that teammates and coaches speak about.
@IrishRugby @UlsterRugby
Delighted that @michaellowry15 wins his 1st Senior cap today. Richly deserved after great performances for Ulster. Although a young player, a great example to others, both on & off the field.
He didn’t have to stop & help, but chose to. Go well Mike!👍🏻 pic.twitter.com/3kydSDO8Os— Mike Scott (@Scotty_Belfast) February 27, 2022
‘He didn’t have to stop, but he wanted to help’
Mike Scott, who has been an avid Ulster Rugby fan for decades, shared a lovely tale about how, in April 2018 [five months before his Ulster debut], Lowry was driving by as he, in his wheelchair, was struggling up ‘a damn steep hill’ near Stranmillis College, in Belfast.
The young Ulster academy prospect, still in his training gear, pulled over his car and jogged over to see if Scott could do with a hand. He ended up pushing Scott up the hill as the pair amiably talked about rugby.
“I might not have been the greatest of successes as a coach,” Willie Anderson humbly says, “but it was important, to me, to give them some of the values or ways I wanted to see people play the game, on or off the pitch.
“I wanted them to respect the jersey. A lot of guys don’t really realise that you only get a go at it for a certain amount of time.”
From the moment he came into that Ulster set-up, Michael Lowry has respected the jersey. As that Mike Scott recollection proves, he has more than lived up to the hopes Anderson and many more had for him.
This afternoon, against Italy, he gets another jersey to don, and to hopefully leave it in a better place.
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