Jack Bowen has learned to love the simple things after overcoming a hidden, nearly two-year battle with injury to start for the NSW Waratahs against the Fijian Drua on Saturday.
Bowen will make his third start for the Waratahs and first of the season after overcoming a long spell with osteitis pubis that began in December 2024.
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The 22-year-old could barely train and function without pain as he pushed through the injury for the entry of last season to start against the British & Irish Lions for his home state.
“I basically used painkillers to get through the season. I'll be honest, it was really tough at times, getting out of bed in the morning, my whole body aching, getting into my car to drive for training and all the daily preparation and recovery I had to do to make sure I was good to go every Saturday night,” he told reporters.
“I wasn't able to kick during the week and I basically just got to Saturdays and tried to play.
“I battled throughout that all last year and then got to that Lions game and ended up doing about nine months in rehab.”
Bowen has been largely overlooked in 2026 amid the arrival of Jack Debreczeni, but worked his way in via the bench against the Chiefs in Round Eight, before strong Shute Shield performances for Easts earned him the recall last week.
The former Junior Wallaby is off-contract at the end of the year but was relishing the opportunity to get back to the form that ended Easts’ 55-year Shute Shield drought in 2024 - the last time he was fit enough to play 80 minutes before this year.
“I think the most pleasing thing for me was training pain-free and I think my body's definitely come a long way in the last year purely because of that. I'm able to accelerate properly again and able to kick properly,” Bowen said.
“It's just been better on a holistic basis and every day-to-day training now has made it a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable as well.”
Bowen will partner good mate Teddy Wilson in the halves, with the pair’s journey continuing since they joined a Broken Bay touch team together as nine-year-olds.
“I'm really comfortable with Teddy. He's obviously one of my best mates and I absolutely love playing with him and we've played together for a long time now,” he added.
“It's just reacting to what each other does when he scoots from nine, and he's got such a good running game that I've just got to react to him, and the same goes for him. It definitely brings a sense of comfort working together and knowing we're going to be in a hostile environment.
“Super grateful just to be able to play with him week in, week out and I'm just looking forward to starting with him again, it’s been a little while, so it'll be good to be out there with him and hopefully we can get a good result over here.”
