Cowan's happy to be a new hooker
By Jon Geddes
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Versatile...Pek Cowan. Picture: Tracee Lea Source: The Daily Telegraph
IMAGINE packing down at hooker in a rugby Test against the power of an All Blacks, English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh scrum never having played a proper game in the position before.
That is the tough assignment Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has handed prop Pek Cowan, who will be Australia's third hooker on the Grand Slam tour along with Stephen Moore and Tatafu Polota-Nau.
The 23-year-old Cowan revealed his previous experience wearing the No.2 jumper had been limited to the squad's internal trial last week.
But the specialist loosehead prop is excited about his new role, which combines the physical demands of packing in the middle of the frontrow with the pressures of lineout throws.
"Judging on what I have done in the short amount of time I have actually played in that position I think is very positive," Cowan said.
And the Warringah Rats forward emerged from the engine-room following his initiation in the hit out against his team-mates pumped and ready to do the job.
"That was the first time I had been in a game scenario and I was bit nervous because I had only done about 10 live scrums before that," Cowan admitted.
"Playing for a spot on the tour was pretty full on but I grew in confidence with every scrum and we were going forward and I guess that is the main thing they wanted."
Cowan has been putting a lot of work into his refining his lineout throws at training and believes his background as a golfer, with a handicap of four when he was 15, had helped.
"In golf you visualise the shot and the same with throwing the ball," he said.
"You queue it very quickly in your head on the call and then shoot and fire."
He said the same mental strength needed to succeed in golf was required to cut out the distraction of the massive crowds he will face in Europe.
"With any position you play repetition is the key. The next level I need to get to is consistency in my throw," he said.
The idea for the switch to hooker came after assistant coach Jim Williams was impressed when he saw Cowan throwing some balls with Polota-Nau during the Wallabies first training camp in May.
"He asked me to broaden my horizons I guess and to look at other positions," Cowan said.
He said European rugby prides itself on frontrow and scrummaging abilities and that playing both prop and hooker on this trip was a great opportunity to establish himself at the international level.
"It's still a daunting task but I am quite exited about the prospect of scrummaging at hooker against such great opposition," Cowan said.
"So if I can go over there and give it a really good crack and stand up to these guys who are renowned for it, I think I can definitely hold my head up high and say I have achieved what I wanted to."
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