Lowes finding his feet at Leeds Carnegie

Lowes is embarking on his first campaign as the man to lead the rugby union side in their Premiership promotion bid, having spent the majority of his two decades in rugby on the league side.

He moved across from the role of assistant coach to Brian McDermott at Leeds Rhinos into the Carnegie role in June, following the departure of Diccon Edwards.

And although he has a strong coaching staff behind him, including Tommy McGee, who is now full-time forwards coach, he appears to be still finding his way in union, with the start of the season on the horizon.

“It’s a completely different experience but I’m very excited,” said Lowes, who when asked if he was daunted, added: “Yes, without a shadow of a doubt.

“But I’ve got some good people around me on the coaching staff; Tommy, Dave Baldwin, Jon Pendlebury, Sir Ian McGeechan and Chris Gibson.

“I throw suggestions at them and some stick and some don’t.

“We’re a team. This head coach thing is just a title. It’s important everybody has their input.

“It’s a great bunch of blokes, and I’m not just talking about the players, it’s the staff as well. There are some really good people here and I’m looking forward to the boys taking the club to the next level.”

Lowes, 43, pitched in with the occasional Carnegie training session last season, and has assumed a more hands-on role since being promoted to the top job.

“It’s important for me to be on the field with the boys, them getting used to me and me getting used to what they’re like and all the other aspects of training,” he said.

In terms of his development as a union coach, he added: “I don’t think any coach is where they want to be, regardless of the sport or the code.

“You’re always trying to better yourself and to challenge yourself with new ideas. I’m in that same boat.

“I watch a lot of sports, and try to pick ideas from all sports. You try to put some of that into practice, whether it’s rugby league or rugby union.”

Lowes also believes that while sharing the Leeds Rugby umbrella with the successful Rhinos has an obvious upside in terms of feelgood factor, it can have an adverse effect on Carnegie because of the added pressure it brings.

“It’s tough for the boys to always have people talking about the rugby league side and that’s an added pressure for them,” said Lowes, who played and coached the Rhinos.

“We want to aspire to what the Rhinos have done, of course we do, but we’ve got to work hard to get to that point.

“We have blokes here who want to be successful, and that’s half the battle. Once you have that you can start developing that culture.

“It’s a good culture at this club and the Rhinos are a good example of what you can do with good people.”

Lowes’s first Championship game in charge is against Nottingham at Doncaster’s Castle Park on September 14.

He continues to look for a new fly-half to push summer signing Glyn Hughes, who is the only recognised No 10 at the club. “We’re looking at a couple of options in that position,” said Lowes.