{"id":714392,"date":"2026-06-04T08:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/714392\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T08:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:33:11","slug":"ex-ireland-duo-propose-james-lowe-switch-amid-contract-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/714392\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Ireland duo propose James Lowe switch amid contract concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Luke Fitzgerald believes that Ireland should consider using James Lowe as a versatility option as concerns continue to grow around his contract situation.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old\u2019s deal ends soon, but both Leinster and the IRFU appear reluctant to put a reasonable offer in front of the wing.<\/p>\n

That means Ireland<\/a> could lose a player that has almost won 50 caps for the country just over a year out from the Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

It would be a blow to Andy Farrell\u2019s preparations for the global tournament but, given his age and recent injury record, no one seems willing to commit.<\/p>\n

Lowe still at a high level<\/p>\n

Both province and country also have a number of other wing options to choose from should he depart, but Fitzgerald believes that he still has plenty to offer.<\/p>\n

He also thinks that playing him in different positions could benefit Lowe, Leinster<\/a> and Ireland, which was first proposed by ex-fly-half Ian Madigan at the weekend.<\/p>\n

Madigan stated that the former Chiefs star has the capabilities to play centre, and while Fitzgerald was not initially enthused by that idea, he reckons having versatility would be a big positive for all parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cIan Madigan made an interesting point in comms where he was talking about whether he could move into the centre. Now, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s something he could probably do; maybe inside centre he could have a good crack at, but he feels like a different kind of athlete to that,\u201d he said on The Left Wing podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder if he could make the change at this stage and be that real kind of utility player that you can kind of plug in. A lovely handler of the ball, got that off-loading ability, he is a big strong guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luke Fitzgerald hits out at \u2018short-sighted\u2019 IRFU over \u2018very unusual\u2019 James Lowe contract stand-off<\/a><\/p>\n

Fitzgerald has concerns about Lowe\u2019s<\/a> defensive solidity but insists that the wing has the ability to learn quickly if he was asked to fulfil a new role.<\/p>\n

Ireland and Leinster need to be \u2018creative\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always felt that naturally he can get a little bit lost defensively, if there\u2019s one part of his game I\u2019ve felt a little bit uncomfortable with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I\u2019m not sure if he\u2019s the best defender but, when he has something to hit, he is great and he\u2019s a smart guy, it\u2019s not something you couldn\u2019t teach him in a short space of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did think that was an interesting angle that Madigan took.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder whether they have to be a bit creative thinking about him going forward. Is he worth an extra 100 or 200k? To me, yeah, he\u2019s a proven Test player, he\u2019s got something different we don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that worth it just to bring to a World Cup squad? In my mind, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: James Lowe future uncertain as Leinster boss responds to exit speculation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke Fitzgerald believes that Ireland should consider using James Lowe as a versatility option as concerns continue to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,818,1182,26779,346906,6265,44,760,85,134441],"class_list":["post-714392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-ireland","tag-james-lowe","tag-leinster","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-united-rugby-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}