Tommy Bowe happy to kit out Queen’s on return to where it all started

Bowe has now returned to Queen’s, the place where his senior rugby career started, to come on board as a sponsor with his clothing company XV Kings.

The fullback/winger was voted on the club’s Greatest Ever XV and received his commemorative print from another Queen’s and Lions winger Trevor Ringland.

“It is an incredible honour for me and to be presented it by Trevor Ringland who was a hero and even now everyone talks to me about how Trevor and Keith Crossan were the best Ulster wingers of all time and me and Trimby (Andrew Trimble) are a distant third, fourth or fifth,” laughed Bowe. “Speaking to my Dad and his heroes were the likes or Trevor and these guys are held in folklore, so to be named in a squad like that is a bit surreal to be honest.

“Seeing the likes of Trevor Ringland and Jack Kyle, even David Irwin and Nigel Carr who aren’t on it, people that played for Ulster and won so much in successful teams and successful eras.”

Bowe enjoyed his time at the Dub and made his Ulster debut against Connacht in 2004 while still a Queen’s player.

“I have brilliant memories of being here at the Dub, I was at Queen’s from 2002 to 2004,” he said. “I attribute a huge amount of my career to Queen’s because I came out of school thinking rugby wasn’t going to be a career for me.

“The style of rugby Queen’s played and the craic off the pitch really suited me, I really bonded with the guys and we played some brilliant rugby.

“I think my rugby went to a whole new level playing at Queen’s and I have great memories playing here.

“And now with my clothing label XV Kings, to kit out the guys is a brilliant honour because university boys and girls are who we want to target.”

Bowe was part of the last Ulster team to win silverware in 2006 and feels the current squad isn’t far away from emulating the side that won the Celtic League.

“I think they have been close on a few occasions to maybe getting another piece of silverware,” he said. “Hump (David Humphreys) was the guy that hit the drop goal that night over in Swansea to win it and we didn’t make it easy for ourselves that night either.

“It’s sad that we haven’t gone forward and gotten another piece of silverware, we have been knocking on the door at times and certainly when I was at Ulster we had good days and bad days.

“I think the way the team is going we are on that upper trajectory at the minute and I hope to get to a final and a quarter-final in Europe this season was a step up from a semi-final and a quarter-final last year.

“We’re definitely going in the right direction it is just unfortunate we’re coming up against Leinster and even though they lost to Saracens I still feel they are probably the best team in Europe.”

Instead of building on the 2006 success the team and coaching structure broke up.

“I left to go to the Ospreys in 2008/9, we had a bad season the year after we won the league and Mark McCall left,” said Bowe. “Matt Williams came in and maybe that wasn’t the right move because Mark had done a lot of good stuff but he was a young coach coming through and you have seen the success he has had since leaving Ulster.

“It’s disappointing looking back as an Ulster supporter and I grew up loving Ulster rugby and there would be nothing better than seeing them to go on and win things.”

Bowe’s former Queen’s team-mate Gareth Steenson is involved in the Heineken Champions Cup this weekend as his Exeter Chiefs side host Toulouse.

“I’m delighted for him, I think an Exeter v Saracens final would be interesting to watch no love lost between those teams,” said Bowe. “I spoke to Steeno through lowdown and he still has that hunger to keep going, Exeter look after him extremely well, they have a good squad and culture that the players really buy into.

“I don’t see Steeno coming back any time soon he is well embedded in the system over there.”