Bowring was born in Neath and was a product of the Neath Grammar School.

He played a few games for the Neath senior side in the back row alongside his boyhood idol Dai Morris, the former Wales flanker.

Bowring spent nine years with London Welsh where he appeared in 268 games, captaining the club for three seasons and representing the Barbarians on three occasions.

A teacher by profession, Bowring hung up his boots at 32 when he took up a job at Clifton College.

His first taste of coaching had come as a 20-year-old when he worked with the Briton Ferry RFC youth squad.

Bowring became involved with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) set-up where he worked his way through the ranks, coaching the Sevens, under-21s and Wales B sides.

After initially being caretaker coach as Wales beat Fiji in November 1995, Bowring took permanent control and was in charge for 28 more games.

He was tasked with trying to help Wales cope with the move to professionalism and also integrating returning rugby league players back into the union set-up.

Bowring was seen as seen as one of the great thinkers of the early professional game and he wanted his national side to play in the traditional expansive way associated with Welsh rugby.

His reign as Wales coach ended after he resigned following a heavy 51-0 defeat by France in the 1998 Five Nations at Wembley.

After working as a lecturer in Cardiff Met university, Bowring was appointed to his RFU role.