This seems to be spiralling out of control. It's either people saying Ben Mowen is the greatest captain we have ever had and it's ridiculous that a long term Wallaby captain would be allowed to consider leaving (Ok, I'm exaggerating), and people saying he's unliked and unrespected by the players, fuck him, he's useless anyway.
When really it's somewhere in the middle. He was a good player, should have previously been a Wallaby over Dave Dennis. Was not a permanent appointment as captain. Did a good job while he was captain, and showed if he could keep his starting jersey he was a genuine option. Played some good rugby, but showed he had areas of improvement to work on to truly be effective at test level. To say he has been notably better than Higginbotham as an international, ignores Mowen's own shortcomings as a player, and the fact that one played something like 10 consecutive international games, whilst the other has come off the bench, missed out due to injury, popped up again and had sporadic appearances in his international career also.
I'm a little bit concerned about people gushing about him as a 6 due to his pressure he put on the Lions halfbacks. If that's what it takes to be a great international 6, give Link my number, I've been the biggest pest to halfbacks in Australian lower grade rugby.
agreed?
