Tommy Bowe ruled out of Ireland’s tour to South Africa

Tommy Bowe played one game for Ulster this season. It was a decent game too but it cost him a summer tour to South Africa.

So that's that. Tommy Bowe's 2015/16 season started with him as nailed-on for Ireland's right wing at the World Cup. He was then dropped after having a couple of poor outings. A top performance against Romania saw him regain the No.14 jersey. He was good against Italy, excellent against France and ruptured his knee against Argentina. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/680533485371670528 Six months of hard slog led to an early April return for Ulster 'A'. That negotiated, he made his senior comeback in the away win over Zebre. Two tries helped seal a bonus point win but the knee flared up again. Bowe was ruled out of recent wins over Leinster and Ospreys. He will miss the rest of the season and Ireland's tour to South Africa. As it stands, his province hope to get him right for 2016/17. An Ulster statement, sent this afternoon, reads:

"Tommy Bowe has had exploratory arthroscopy of his right knee to address discomfort he has been experiencing since the recent win over Zebre in mid-April. The surgery revealed no new injury and Tommy is expected to be fully fit for the start of pre-season."

It is rotten luck for Bowe and adds to the wretched run of injuries - hip, hamstring and knee - that has kept him out of the action for months on end. At 32, Bowe has plenty of time yet to make another return for province and country.