Cowan enjoys 80-minute vote of confidence
Greg Growden | June 22, 2009
PEK COWAN, the Wallabies' new loose-head prop, has received two strong hints that he is in Robbie Deans's good books.
First, he lasted the whole 80 minutes of his Test debut - Saturday night's 34-12 win over Italy in Melbourne. Second, the Wallabies coach singled him out for special praise at the end of the game.
Deans certainly showed faith in the young front row of Cowan, Tatafu Polota-Nau and Ben Alexander, who was starting for the first time on the tighthead side, by allowing them to finish the match, despite some tense moments during the second half.
With Italy beginning to threaten, Deans might have easily called in the big boys by bringing on several high-profile players who were sitting on the bench. But he had enough faith in those out there to finish the job - and they did, dominating the final 10 minutes to win by a substantial margin.
While halfback Luke Burgess and five-eighth Berrick Barnes controlled the game in midfield, Cowan was one of the standout forwards, holding the scrum steady. But he was also sighted in open play, repeatedly taking up the ball or offloading to supports.
"To be able to play 80 minutes in my first Test was great but the body is now hurting," he said. "I'm very happy they left all of us front-rowers on there until the end. Robbie and the coaching staff weren't fazed at all when Italy got close at one stage. His advice to us was that they will run out of puff eventually and so we just had to keep working hard. As he said, they opened up near the end."
Before kick-off, the three, who first played together at Australian under-21 level in 2005, made a pact that they would "repay the faith the Australian selectors had put in us".
"I thought as a young front row we dealt with it fairly well," Cowan said. "There were a couple of penalties, and mis-timing with some calls - but it could have also been a lot worse."
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