Tom Bowen is keeping his feet firmly on the ground following a stellar start to the 2025-26 season.
The electric wing, who dipped his toe into first team action last season, has enjoyed an unforgettable couple of weeks, declaring he is living his dream.
He snatched a hat-trick last weekend against Munster and followed that up with a brace as Cardiff downed Connacht on Saturday night.
That has taken his first team tally to seven tries in seven appearance and he is currently top of the BKT United Rugby Championship try-scoring charts.
But while external noise is building, the affable 19-year-old insists his only priority is making the most of every opportunity in blue and black.
Making the most of every opportunity
He said: “I’m just grateful to get the opportunity to be honest with you.
“Like I’ve said before Cardiff is my home region and I’m just really grateful to be getting the opportunities I’m having. The least I can do is just grab them with both hands. Try to put a performance in and try my best really.
“I’m not going to get carried away with anything. I love playing for Cardiff and I love putting the jersey on. I’m really grateful for it, so the least I can do is just play well, try my best.
“It’s a massive learning curve. I’m staying grounded and I just love playing my rugby. I love playing for Cardiff and I just want to play well for Cardiff.”
While this week’s try exploits came in winning circumstances for the Aberdare ace, it was far from plain sailing at the Arms Park.
The Blue & Blacks were unable to capitalise on their early dominance and only had Bowen’s first, again from a Callum Sheedy cross-kick, to show as they held onto a 7-3 lead.
For more than an hour a nail-biting stalemate ensued with Connacht piling on the pressure. But they were unable to break down the spirited home side and the victory was secured when Bowen pounced on loose ball to race 60-metres clear.
Special Sheedy
Bowen continued: “Fair play to Sheeds, really. He’s on the money every time and credit to him. He reads the game really well and he makes my job a lot easier, putting those kicks on the money.
“He’s playing some special rugby at the moment. He has eyes everywhere. He creates the space – he’s the assist king.
“(On the second) It was just relief really. It was a scrappy game, back and forth, a lot of kicking and stuff. We stayed in it and I thought our fight was incredible. So just relief really, to finish that off.
“It could have gone either way but like I said, the boys, they stuck in it.”
With 11 points from a possible 15 in the opening three rounds of the URC, Cardiff currently sit fourth in the table and now turn attention to the Dragons on Friday night.
Bowen believes it has been a pleasing start to the season and he is now setting his sights on his first taste of derby action.
He added: “If they said at the start of pre-season, we would have 11 points, I think we would have bit your hand-off to be honest with you. We’ve got to be really pleased in how we’ve started the season.
“What’s most important now is that we keep performing well now and keep picking up points in each game.
“If selected it would be my first Welsh debry and I’m really looking forward to that.”