Weight loss is gain for Lowe

3:55pm Tuesday 18th November 2008

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Cougars forward Neil Lowe is already in fine shape for 2009 having lost a stone in weight during his “dream” World Cup experience with Scotland.

The second-rower returned from Australia last week buzzing after the month-long trip in which he met Kangaroos legend Andrew Johns and featured during Scotland’s historic victory over semi-finalists Fiji.

That was the only match Lowe was picked for – he missed out in defeats by France and Tonga – but some of his preparation was badly hit because he was taken ill during the trip with gastro-enteritis.

“We managed to beat Fiji 18-16 but I didn’t even expect to be picked for the game because our coach Steve McCormack had forwards with Super League experience available to him,” he said.

“He gave me a chance though and I was grateful for that. We dug in deep; worked hard for each other, emerging with Scotland’s first ever win in the World Cup finals.

“It meant we finished the competition seventh. Every-body predicted that we’d come bottom in tenth but the spirit in the Scotland squad was amazing and we really deserved the victory over Fiji and we earned our post-match celebration.”

Lowe, who starts pre-season with Keighley in just over a fortnight’s time, continued: “It was all an incredible experience and one I shall never forget.

“Being part of a tight-knit bunch of blokes and working so hard together was very special.

“The training was real hard out there but I think we all benefited from it and I’ve returned to Britain having lost a stone in weight. That’s how tough the regime was.

“We had a number of players who are attached to Super League clubs and used to full-time training so it was up to us to match them and I’ve been working very hard on my weight training programme.”

Lowe had been Down Under as a Great Britain Academy international in 1997 but believes this World Cup adventure has had a far greater impact on him.

“I was very young back then and don’t think I appreciated what was happening to me,” said the 29-year-old.

“On this trip I got to see more of Australia. We went to both Brisbane and Sydney where we were based at Coogee Beach which is one of Sydney’s eastern suburb beach resorts.

“But we did things like going up on top of the Harbour Bridge, surfing and shark swimming and we were really well treated by the Australians.

“Two of their greatest recent players Andrew Johns and Willie Mason came to see us and spent a long time talking to us.

“That was fantastic of them and it shows the bond between rugby league players all over the world.

“Now I’m just looking to the new season with the Cougars.”

The former Featherstone forward is content that the work he put in during Scotland’s World Cup trip will be of benefit to both him and the club when they start their next National League Two campaign.

“We’ll just have to see what happens but I think we’ll go well at Keighley next year and I think a top-three finish is a real possibility for us in 2009,” he said.