ken owens

Welsh hooker Ken Owens represents the Scarlets and Wales in rugby union.

Due to injuries to hookers Matthew Rees and Gareth Williams, Owens was called up to the Wales team for the 2010 Six Nations on February 15, 2010. Following Richard Hibbard’s injury, he was included in Wales’ 45-man training squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. On September 26, 2011, he made his debut for Wales in their 81-7 victory against Namibia in their third pool encounter. He entered the game as a substitute in the second half. Owens participated in each of Wales’ five games during the 2012 Six Nations, which saw them win the Grand Slam. In Wales’ 31-man roster for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Owens was chosen, and he came off the bench in the team’s 23-19 quarterfinal defeat to South Africa.

In the 2017 Six Nations Championship, Owens played in his 50th test, a 20-18 loss to France, and completed the entire game, including the 20 minutes of injury time at the conclusion of the second half. Owens was chosen to travel to New Zealand with the British & Irish Lions. On the tour, he participated in six games, serving as team captain during their 22-16 loss to the Blues in Auckland and making two of the three test matches against New Zealand off the bench. Referee Romain Poite originally gave the All Blacks a penalty that would have given them the chance to win the game, but he overturned his decision on review and awarded a scrum instead, and both the game and the series ended in draws.