The former Aussie rugby league captain became one of the highest profile converts from league when he signed for French club Bayonne with a view to representing Italy on the international stage,
The 2010 RBS 6 Nations has been his debut championship for the Azzurri, for whom he qualifies through a grandfather, and he has already come up against some of the best outside halves in the business.
His championship learning curve started with Ronan O’Gara in Dublin, moved on to Jonny Wilkinson and Dan Parks in Rome and stepped up a gear against Francois Trinh-Duc in Paris.
Now he can’t wait to experience the unique atmosphere of the Millennium Stadium and pit his wits against Wales’ own Stephen Jones.
“Stephen Jones is a class player and I’m really looking forward to facing him. Every game I play I feel a little bit more confident,” said the 31-year-old Gower.
“I know I’m still making mistakes, but this is really my first year of playing at outside half. I’m really enjoying the switch from rugby league and the lifestyle change of living in France and playing for Italy is great. The 2011 Rugby World Cup is the big goal, although I hope to be playing for a few more seasons after that.”
Gower knows he will have to govern proceedings for his side in Cardiff if they are to make it two wins in the Championship after their home triumph over the Scots. He also knows they will have to show a big improvement on their 46-20 defeat at Stade de France last weekend.
“It was a disappointing effort from us in Paris and we didn’t do what we wanted to do. It was a performance that was out of character for us given the way we have played over the past six months,” he said.
“We showed a bit of character in the end when we scored those two tries, but our one-on-one tackling wasn’t good enough. That is something we will have to improve on against Wales because they play in a similar way to the French and have a lot of strike runners with pace.
“Wales will be coming into the game disappointed at losing in Ireland, so it is vital we go into the game with a winning mentality. We need to get our basics right, control the ball and ensure our scrum and line-out work well.”
