It was Lowe's seventh try in 16 Tests for his adopted nation and came after coach Andy Farrell voted faith in him.
Lowe had put his place in the side at risk after returning to New Zealand for two weeks for personal reasons.
Farrell gave him a programme to adhere to hit the ground running upon his return. That was straight into a training camp in Portugal.
"It was the first time I'd trained with a team for three and a half weeks, and I felt in great shape. I didn't skip a beat. I made sure I got across everything," Lowe said.
Despite not having played since Boxing Day, Lowe was named in the side to play Ireland's opening Six Nations game against Wales. Lowe said that was a demonstration of trust between Farrell and his squad.
"He encourages you to be yourself and not take away from the skills and the point of difference that have got you into this position, and then it's finding a way around a structure that Andy puts in front of us to make sure that we can express ourselves.
"We've got some freakish athletes as well. If you look at our back-rowers, pretty dynamic, six, seven and eight, even our lock, Tadhg (Beirne) moving into lock, who was predominantly a blindside flanker a couple of years ago, it's very athletic and dynamic.
"Just giving those boys the opportunity to play at the line, play little tips inside, balls out the back, Sexto [Jonny Sexton] turning corners, having forwards there, it's all part of our whole system.
"The quicker we can get off the ground and into shape, I think we can cause some problems."
Doing that against France, in their top-of-the-table second game on Saturday, would be the challenge.
"It's imposing a game that we know we can play.
"But that's going to happen. It happens in a game where you're going to lose a few battles and have to play a bit smarter.
"We know we've got a shape that can break down most teams if we get our stuff right and the French are physical. It would be silly to say they're not bigger than us.
"We think we're fitter. If we can get around them, work around into holes and, hopefully, get a couple of weak shoulders and stay on top of them, it sounds very easy to do, but teams struggle to do it.
"We're going to go out and play our rugby and see how we go.
"The France that we know is going to turn up, and we're prepping for that and can't wait for the opportunity to test ourselves against the team that won the Grand Slam last year.
"Their 9-10 combo is pretty scary, their back row is world-class, a midfield that's pretty dangerous and a back three that would worry most teams.
"They've got some pretty good firepower, so, hopefully, they don't string it all together."
