Thirty-four minutes and 20 seconds into Ireland’s opening game of the this year’s Six Nations, Ireland are trailing 7-0 to England in the Aviva Stadium when Garry Ringrose fizzes a 20-metre plus pass from the middle of the pitch to James Lowe on the Irish 10-metre line. There doesn’t appear to be much on. Lowe is faced by the English scrumhalf Alex Mitchell, who is covering across and makes the mistake of letting the Irish winger generate some momentum before engaging him in a tackle. Lowe positions his right arm between him and the tackle to lessen its impact, and then uses his leg power and upper body strength to eventually slide out of Mitchell’s despairing grip. He carries on and 20m into the English half passes inside to the supporting Jamison Gibson-Park, who steps Freddie Steward to score. Ireland are up and running. Fifty-three minutes into Ireland’s second game in Murrayfield and Scotland have scored 11 points either side of the interval to trim their deficit to 17-11. The crowd is alive and the game is back on, but Ireland attack off a five-metre scrum penalty advantage. Five phases later Sam Prendergast skip passes to Hugo Keenan, who shifts the ball on to Lowe. He goosesteps in and out of Blair Kinghorn’s tackle and dips for the line. Despite being double tackled by Stafford McDowall and Jamie Dobie and held up over the line, Lowe frees his hands to dot down the ball. Ireland don’t look back. Lowe’s try in Murrayfield ended a seven-match try-less sequence dating back to the double he scored in the defeat by England at Twickenham in round four of last year’s Six Nations. Like many others, Lowe was not quite his potent self in the Autumn Nations Series. Yet, despite having no rugby for Leinster in the intervening period, due to a calf problem sustained in that November window, until an 80-minute return against the Stormers a week before the England game, he has hit the ground running in Ireland’s two Six Nations games to date. Lowe has effectively been Ireland’s go-to man since he broke into the team, whether it be scoring a try himself or breaking a game open. This has been especially true since his second coming when recalled for the November 2021 games after defensive issues had interrupted his fledgling Test career. If in need of something out of nothing, get the ball to him. In Ireland’s 49 Tests since Lowe won the first of his 38 caps, he is Ireland’s leading try scorer, with 17. Next is Bundee Aki on 13, followed by Mack Hansen on 12 and Dan Sheehan, whose strike rate of 11 tries in 29 Tests suggests he is going to rewrite the record books But these figures crystallise how Ireland – great team that they are – have been heavily dependent on imported players for some of the finishing touches, especially bearing in mind Gibson-Park has a hat-load of try assists, as well as his own eight tries. Gibson-Park and Lowe played together a couple of times for the Maori All Blacks and it seems that when the scrumhalf floats a long try assist to Lowe on the left touchline, or picks him out le he did for the line break in the build-up to Tadhg Beirne’s try against England, or when he runs that support trailer inside Lowe, they have a truly telepathic understanding. Some combinations develop like that over the years. They connect instinctively. As with Hansen, each revels in heads-up, off-the-cuff rugby. Of that support trailer against England before the wicked sidestep past Steward, Gibson-Park said he ran it “just in case”, because “he [Lowe] will either get barrelled into touch or give it back to me”. He’s being unfair to his Maori sidekick there. Lowe is rarely barrelled into touch, and if he’s about to, he usually drops the ball on to his skilful left foot. In five games against Tier One opposition this season, Gibson-Park has had six try assists, with Lowe next on three, followed by Prendergast on two. Lowe has beaten the most defenders, 12, in these five games, followed by Hansen on 11 and Ringrose on seven. Lowe has also made nine clean breaks, followed by Keenan on three. So, it’s not just Lowe’s finishing, it’s his ability to take a pass hugging that left touchline and take all manner of hits, yet somehow stay infield. Then, invariably, he either beats a tackle and/or offloads to a team-mate infield, as he did for Gibson-Park’s try against England. That was one of three try assists against England, and of Ireland’s 16 line breaks in their two games so far, Lowe has been responsible for eight. It was a similar story in the two-Test series in South Africa, where Lowe beat eight defenders (followed by Calvin Nash on four) and had comfortably the most Irish offloads (four). In last year’s Six Nations, Lowe and Sheehan led the way with four tries apiece of Ireland’s 18 in the tournament. Lowe also made the most clean breaks (seven), followed by Sheehan (six) and Aki (four). Aki and Robbie Henshaw beat the most defenders (12), with Lowe and Nash next best on 10 each. Gibson-Park had the most try assists with three. In the 2023 World Cup, Aki was Ireland’s leading try scorer on five and made the most line breaks (10), while Lowe (six), Aki (five) and Hansen (five) were Ireland’s leading offloaders. In the 2023 Grand Slam campaign, Lowe and Hansen were the leading try scorers with three apiece. Conor Murray, Aki, Lowe and Finlay Bealham had two try assists each. Lowe made the most line breaks for Ireland (10, which was third highest in the championship), followed by Hansen on seven and Sheehan on five. Lowe’s absence had been keenly felt when he missed the November 2022 window with a calf injury. Admittedly there was nothing new in Ireland having to dig deep in beating South Africa (19-16), before they laboured a little against Fiji (35-17) and Australia (13-10), but they missed Lowe’s dash of inspiration. Hansen scored in each of the fist two games, and Aki conjured Ireland’s sole try against the Wallabies in the 65th minute with the score at 3-3, when ploughing through two tackles to score from close-range after being brought on as a replacement. Whatever about Aki, who was an established Super Rugby winner with the Chiefs when he moved to Connacht, Gibson-Park, especially, and even Lowe, were not really All Blacks in waiting, while Hansen seems to have travelled under the Wallabies radar. But while the Irish system is productive, it’s not without its flaws. There’s the conveyor belt of ready-made professionals from fee-paying schools who invest heavily in their rugby programmes, not least in coaching and facilities, and almost exclusively in Leinster. [ Jamison Gibson-Park’s ability to continually grow his game a huge bonus for IrelandOpens in new window ] But, generally, it doesn’t produce players with the X-factor of Gibson-Park, Lowe, Aki and Hansen. The Irish team of the last few years would not have scaled the same heights without judicious use of what was then the three-year residency ruling but which, of course, is now five years. Yet credit where it’s due. The Irish system has polished these gems and, through fitness programmes, coaching and exposure to provincial rugby in the URC and Europe as well as through the Ireland squad environment, has tuned them into jewels. New Zealand and Australian rugby folk may bemoan their loss. The begrudgers point only to their place of birth. But they would never have grown into the same players had they stayed put. Watch a few of the opening Super Rugby games and you’ll see New Zealand has a supply line of potential gems. Aki is in his 10th season with Connacht, while Gibson-Park and Lowe are in their ninth and 10th with Leinster. They’ve long since bought into Ireland and the Irish rugby zeitgeist. Some of their children have been born here and they have been made Irish citizens. What the future holds without them is another matter, but for the time being let’s enjoy them and celebrate them. [ ‘There’s not a bad word I could speak about Ireland’: Rugby star Bundee Aki gains Irish citizenshipOpens in new window ] It’s tough on indigenous players such as Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale, who has rediscovered his best form, but as well as his X-factor, we haven’t even mentioned Lowe’s howitzer of a left boot. To underline Lowe’s impact, in addition to his strike rate with Ireland, his 60 tries in 85 appearances for Leinster have seen him overtake Gordon D’Arcy and move alongside Brian O’Driscoll in the province’s all-time list on 61 tries, with only Shane Horgan in front of him on 69. Among active players, Stockdale is Ireland’s most prolific try scorer with 19, followed by Aki on 18, but Lowe is just outside the top 10 on 17 and looks set to move up the table imminently. Lowe is 32, Gibson-Park turns 33 on Sunday and Aki is 34, yet all are strong contenders to be part of Andy Farrell’s Lions squad and none of them are showing any signs of slowing down just yet. Therein, of course, lies the other strength of the Irish system. Not alone does it help launch international careers, but it helps to sustain them too. Ireland’s leading try scorers since James Lowe’s debut against Wales in November 2020 Hansen: 12. Sheehan: 11. Josh van der Flier, Tadhg Beirne: 10 each.