![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1_GettyImages-2244297938.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe 33-year-old announced this week he would leave Irish rugby just a year out from the World Cup in Australia<\/p>\n
James Lowe’s Ireland career is over(Image: Photo by Raj Chavda\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
New claims from one of James Lowe’s former team-mates has revealed that the wing had a deal to stay in Ireland until next year’s World Cup withdrawn at the last minute, before being offered half the money.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, the 33-year-old confirmed he would leave Leinster<\/a> at the end of the season, after weeks of speculation. A move to Japan is now expected, with any deal abroad set to end his Test career.<\/p>\n One year out from the World Cup in Australia, it’s a sorry end for the 45-cap wing.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the New Zealand-born Lowe admitted in a statement that he wasn’t getting his “fairytale ending”.<\/p>\n JOIN OUR WALES RUGBY FACEBOOK PAGE Latest news, analysis and much more<\/a><\/p>\n Former Ireland and Leinster hooker James Tracy appeared on Off The Ball<\/a> this week, where he offered more detail on how Lowe ended up leaving Irish rugby.<\/p>\n “I think James Lowe is down about the James Lowe news, just as much as the rest of us,” said Tracy. “That’s the saddest part of it.<\/p>\n “You’ve got a guy who’s a game-breaker. We don’t really have anyone who his king of skillset in the country.<\/p>\n “He’s let go through the powers that be in the IRFU trying to pull a quick one and save a few quid, thinking he’ll hold on for the World Cup and they can get him for half the price that had been agreed with to roll over the contract.<\/p>\n “It’s a very disappointing ending to clearly what was not what most people wanted. Andy Farrell wanted him, Leinster wanted him, he wanted to stay.<\/p>\n “It’s an unusual scenario that I hope we don’t find ourselves in again.<\/p>\n “My understanding is he had a one-plus-one year contract on the table and was expecting a renewal. The contract was agreed until the World Cup on the deal he was on.<\/p>\n “In the dying hours, he was handed a letter to say his plus one was going to be terminated.<\/p>\n “Then a few days later, he was handed a new contract for half the money instead of renewing what was agreed on.<\/p>\n “They did have a right to exercise a termination. But if you’re going to terminate, terminate.<\/p>\n “Don’t come back with an offer of half (the money).”<\/p>\n Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our free daily newsletter here<\/a> and our WhatsApp channel here<\/a> for all the breaking news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 33-year-old announced this week he would leave Irish rugby just a year out from the World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[27009,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-638210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-ireland-rugby-team","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}