Bow, Tommy

Tommy Bow began his sports career by playing Gaelic football for a club from his native village, and later on as a youth team representing Monahan County ^{[1] [2]} . Bowie started playing rugby in high school, and after entering Queens University in Belfast, he got into the Ulster Championship, where he was spotted by scouts of the youth team of Ireland ^[3] . After playing for the youth teams of Ireland, he received the title of best young player in 2004 according to the Irish Rugby Players Association ^[ 15 ^] .

Bowe was included in the main team of Ulster before the 2003-2004 season ^[5] and debuted on April 16, 2004 against Connaught , having made his first attempt for the club in the match ^[6] . In the 2004-2005 season, the rugby player became an important player in the main squad; he came out at the start in 25 games and at the end of the season received the title of Player of the Year in Ulster ^[7] .

In 2008, Bowe refused to sign a new contract with Ulster and transferred to the Welsh club Ospreyz , concluding a three-year deal with the Osprey ^[8] . In the same year, Tommy received another award from the Irish Rugby Players Association, 15, this time he was named the player of the year in Ireland ^[4] . A few months later, Bowe puts his name in the history of Welsh rugby: in the Heineken Cup match against Benetton , he landed four attempts and set a club record for this indicator ^[9] .

Despite pressure from the Irish Rugby Union, at the end of 2009 Bowe signed a new three-year agreement with Osprey ^[10] . Five months later, Tommy for the second time in two years received the title of the best Irish rugby player of the year ^[11] and became the champion of the Celtic League , while making an attempt in the final playoff match against Lenster ^[12] .

In 2012, Bowe returned to Ulster, signing a three-year contract with the club ^[13] . In his first match after returning to the north of Ireland, Tommy made two attempts and helped the club beat Cardiff Blues with a big score of 48:19 ^[14] . From the 2012–2013 season, Bowe helped the club reach the Pro12 finals by landing in a semifinal match against Scarlets . In the decisive match, “Ulster” failed to cope with the “Leinster”, which won the second title in that match for the season ^[15] . In November 2014, Bowe signed a new four-year contract with the club ^[16] .

Republic of Ireland

Tommy Bowe made his debut in the national team of Ireland on November 20, 2004 in a match against the US national team , in which he made an attempt, and also became the first Monahan native in 80 years to play for the Greens ^[17] . At his first Six Nations Cup in 2006, Tommy brought in an attempt by the Italian national team ^[18] . The Irish lost the next match of the tournament against the French national team , and head coach Eddie O'Sullivan accused Bowe and other defenders of an insufficiently competent game ^[19] . In a match against the Argentine national team on May 25, 2007, Tommy was injured, because of which he missed the remaining test meetings before the 2007 World Cup ^[20] . Despite the fact that Bow managed to recover by the beginning of the world championship, O'Sullivan took in his place the rugby player Brian Carney ^[21] .

The Greens failed the World Cup and Declan Kidney , who returned Bow to the squad, became the new coach. The rugby player justified the confidence placed in him and scored two attempts by the Scottish national team at the Six Nations Cup 2008 ^[22] . In 2009, Tommy again entered the main squad, left the starting lineup in all five matches and landed two attempts (Italy and Wales ), and the Irish national team won the grand helmet for the first time in 61 years ^[23] . In the next six Nations Cup draw, Bowe receives an award for the best player ^[24] , largely thanks to two attempts in the match against England ^[25] .

In 2011, Bowe made it to the first World Cup in his career ^[26] and in the first match of the tournament brought in two attempts by the US team ^[27] . At the Six Nations Cup 2012, the rugby player went to all meetings in the starting lineup and landed 5 attempts (two each from Italy and France and one from Wales), and thereby became the best in this indicator ^[28] .

Due to a knee injury at the club, Bowe missed the Six Nations Cup 2013 ^[29] , and six months later received a broken arm in the match for the British and Irish Lions ^[30] . In November 2013, in a test match with the New Zealand national team, Tommy gets a groin injury and misses the six Nations Cup 2014 , which won the Irish national team, as well as the 2012 summer test matches ^[31] .

After two years of injuries and the inability to regularly play for the national team, Bowe returns to the main team for the Six Nations Cup 2015 . The Greens won the tournament again just like a year ago, and Tommy came out in all matches in the starting lineup, but failed to bring in attempts. Despite not the highest performance in recent test matches, the rugby player enters the national team for the 2015 World Cup ^[32] . In a match with Romania, Bowe landed two attempts ^[33] , but in the last game of the group stage against the French national team he suffered a severe knee injury and was unable to help the team in the quarterfinal, Argentina's rival ^[34] .

British and Irish Lions

On April 21, 2009, Bowe was drafted into the British and Irish Lions for summer matches in South Africa. ^[35] In the first match with Royal XV, Tommy opened the scoring to Lviv’s attempts on the tour and turned the tide of the match ^[36] . In the second game, the British met with the national team of the Gauteng province, Golden Lions, this time Bowe is already earning 10 points ^[37] . In the next two meetings, the athlete did not participate, but returned to the team for the match with Western Provins and replenished his account with up to four attempts in three matches ^[38] . Thanks to a bright attacking game, Bowe entered the starting lineup in all three test matches against the South African national team , but did not mark any of them with effective actions. Tommy Bow was named second after Jamie Roberts to be the best player on the tour ^[39] .

Bowe was included in the “Lions” and the next tour, which took place in Australia ^[40] . Bowe made his only attempt at a match against Western Force ^[41] , and in his next game with the Queensland Reds broke his arm ^[30] . Tommy managed to recover for the second and third test meetings with the Australian team , but failed to land in them ^[39] .

International Match Attempts

Team Achievements

Six Nations Cup

• Winner: 2009 , 2015 .

Celtic League / Pro12

• Winner: 2005/06 (as part of Ulster ), 2009/10 (as part of Ospreyz ).
• Finalist: 2003/04, 2012/13.

Individual Achievements

• The best young player of 2004 according to the Irish Rugby Players Association ^[ 15 ^] ;
• The best player of 2005 in Ulster ^[7] ;
• The best player of 2008 according to the Irish Rugby Players Association-15 ^[4] ;
• The best player of the Six Nations Cup 2010 ^[24] ;
• The best player of 2010 according to the Irish Rugby Players Association-15 ^[11] ;
• Second place in the number of attempts recorded for the national team of Ireland (30) ^[42] .

In 2010, Bowe starred in one of the editions of the culinary show ^[43] . Tommy was twice invited to Ireland’s most popular talk show, in 2010 ^[44] and 2012 ^[45] . In 2013, he starred in the Tommy Bowe's Body Check documentary, which talks about how high-performance sports affect a person ^[46] .

Tommy Bow has his own brand of shoes and accessories Lloyd & Pryce footwear , as well as the clothing line XV Kings ^[47] . In 2011 and 2012, the athlete launched the Tommy Bowe Challenge charity event, whose goal was to raise funds for the Glazlok Warriors rugby club from his home county ^[48] . In 2014, he received an honorary degree from the University of Ulster for his achievements in sports ^[49] .

Family

Tommy's father, Paul Bowe, played in the 1970s at an amateur level for his college rugby team. Bowe's younger sister, Hannah, was called to the national team for international ice hockey competitions , and her younger brother chose an academic career and was educated at Imperial College London . Grandfather Tommy participated in the Landing in Normandy and received a Military Cross for it ^{[50] [51]} . On June 14, 2015, Tommy Bow married his girlfriend Lucy Whitehouse, the 2009 Miss Wales contest winner. ^[52]

• Player profile on Irish Rugby Union website (link not available)
• Player profile on the Ulster website (inaccessible link)
• Player profile for British and Irish Lions