Push from wife kept Ben Mowen focused on Wallabies jumper

BEN Mowen has revealed that his wife Lauren stopped him from walking out on Australian rugby despite repeated snubs by the Wallabies.

Ben Mowen

BEN Mowen has revealed that his wife Lauren stopped him from walking out on Australian rugby despite repeated snubs by the Wallabies.

The backrower, who could make his Test debut against the Lions at the ripe age of 28, was poised to defect to Japan on a contract worth three times his salary early this year, when it appeared he would never represent his country despite strong form.

"It's hard, particularly with a wife and young child, and starting to look at having more kids,'' said father-of-one Mowen. "You get to that stage of your life where your financial security becomes pretty important.

"But fortunately for me, my wife was in the exact same mindset, she said 'You don't want to go away and not have, at worst, had a crack for as long as you can'.

"That was all the support I needed, I feel very fortunate I got that backing.''

Mowen re-signed with the Brumbies for a further two years in January and is now part of the Wallabies 25-man squad for the Lions series and has firmed to play a part after the season-ending injury to Scott Higginbotham.

"It's extremely rewarding to be involved in this side, particularly in this series,'' said Mowen, who will likely compete with Dave Dennis for the Wallabies No.6 role.

"There's been numerous occasions over the past couple of years where I've had to make a decision; do I stay or do I head head overseas and take a different path?

"My thought process has been the same every time, I just wouldn't feel comfortable looking back on a rugby career when I'm done, knowing I didn't give it a crack for as long as I could.

"The benefit of that has been that I've pushed myself personal into some really good personal development areas and I know I've taken my footy to that next level.''

While Mowen has had many public supporters bemoaning his lack of selection for Australia in recent years, he refused to kick cans.

"I try not to think that way, I don't think you get anywhere by having a sook,'' Mowen said.

"For me, anytime I wasn't in, I went back and looked at the areas I had to improve on and made sure tried to move them on, year by year.

"I feel like I've done that, and I've definitely hit my groove at the Brumbies.

"Having access to a guy like [Brumbies assistant coach] Laurie Fisher has taken my game and my breakdown work to the next level.''

Mowen will be particularly useful to the Wallabies as a lineout caller, as he leads the Super Rugby competition for lineout takes.

"It's like being a back and being able to kick goals, it just adds an extra string to your bow which may potentially give you selection,'' he said.

"I'm doing a bit of calling at the moment as we're learning through, we've got myself at the moment, Dave Dennis, Rob Simmons who can all call lineouts, and Kevvie Horwill can call too.

"We're not really narrowing down too much in terms of the personnel that's going to be used, everyone is moving through and making sure we're getting that content in.''