Unfinished business for Lowe

James Lowe is determined not to get ahead of himself.

The experienced 44-game Tasman Makos winger starts a three-year contract with Irish club Leinster at the end of the Mitre 10 Cup rugby season, but he's still guaranteed at least two more outings in the Makos' strip.

Lowe's hoping to make it three. That would mean Tasman beating either Taranaki or Canterbury in the Mitre 10 Cup premiership semifinals ahead of a potential second consecutive final.

Tasman cemented the fourth playoff spot following last Sunday's impressive 31-18 win over Auckland at Trafalgar Park and now a formidable Counties-Manukau team looms in Pukekohe on Saturday to complete the regular season. And that's where Lowe's immediate focus lies.

Lowe said that he'd be heading to Ireland "nine or 10 days" after Tasman's last game. He's put Leinster firmly in the back of his mind for the time being as there's still a massive job ahead of Tasman over the coming weeks.

"Nothing really changes, you can't be thinking about the move too much," Lowe said.

"I guess it is a wee bit sad that [Sunday] was probably the last time I'll play on Trafalgar Park for a while, but it's not about me and how I'm feeling. As long as the team keeps on winning I'm happy.

"I'm happy if I'm playing well but if the team keeps on winning, that's what puts a smile on my face."

The now former Chiefs winger will be squaring off against several Super Rugby team-mates on Saturday and while Tasman are already through to the post season, he said that they won't be lacking motivation.

"Trust me, I look across their team and I'm friends with half of them and when you come up against friends, you want to smash them.

"I was just in at the [Tasman] union [on Monday] getting some physio done and there was a lineout meeting going on ... and it's supposed to be our day off, so there's definitely no let-up coming into this weekend.

"It's tough to win up there and they've got a lot of x-factor throughout their team as well. They've got some big Fijians and then you look at the likes of Tim Nanai-Williams and they've got the old head of Beaver [Stephen Donald] in the mix now, but hopefully Augustine [Pulu] isn't playing, that'd do us a favour."

In form halfback Pulu was red-carded during Counties' narrow win over Manawatu last Thursday so could be in doubt for Saturday's clash. Still, after Sunday's five tries to three win over Auckland in wet conditions, Lowe felt that Tasman were tracking nicely. 

"We're happy with how we performed especially considering the conditions and you look at that Auckland team [and] there's a lot of firepower. So we're happy with how we went, but there's certainly more in the tank.

"I guesss there's a bit of momentum starting to come, but we had a goal of making it into that top four and now we've made it so we'll target this last game as something we can build off and set us up for the remainder of the competition."

Lowe's trademark effervescent, high-energy approach remains a key factor in Tasman's backline operation and along with halfback Billy Guyton, who celebrated his 50th game for Tasman on Sunday, provides the experience in a new-look back division.

"I guess there was a wee bit of a transition phase where we were seeding a few of the young boys but they've come a long way and the expectations of them now are a lot higher considering that they've performed in certain games throughout the year.

"They've come a long way and coming into the tail end of the season, that's where we'll see what they're really made of.

"It was great to see Bill get his 50th at the weekend and [flanker] Vernon [Fredericks] a couple of weeks ago, so the boys are in a good head space heading into these final weeks."

Currently in fourth place, Tasman could potentially still finish third.

"I think Taranaki and Canterbury have that one and two spot, so it's just between Harbour and us whether or not we go third or fourth. But it doesn't really matter who you have to play or where you have to play, anything can happen in finals footy and we're excited we get that opportunity.

"We've been there; we've been to the big dance a couple of times now so hopefully we can get there this time."

 

Photo by: RICKY WILSON/STUFF (Caption: Tasman winger James Lowe exploits a gap in Wellington's defence)