Ken Owens

Kenneth James Owens (born 3 January 1987) is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a hooker for the Scarlets and Wales.

Although he was almost signed as a goalkeeper by Carmarthen Town AFC, Owens chose to stick to rugby and began his career as a youth player at Carmarthen Athletic before joining the Llanelli Scarlets academy in 2004.

He moved to play his club rugby for UWIC RFC when he began studying at the university in 2005.

Owens made his debut for the Llanelli Scarlets towards the end of the 2005–06 season in a match against the Glasgow Warriors.

He made his debut for the Scarlets in 2006, taking over from Matthew Rees as their first-choice hooker upon Rees' departure for the Cardiff Blues in 2013.

He left UWIC and began playing his club rugby for Llanelli RFC, making five appearances and scoring three tries in the first two months of the 2006–07 season.

That year, Owens made 17 appearances for the Scarlets, making his first start in a 24–14 away defeat to Edinburgh on 5 January 2007.

He scored his first try after coming on for Matthew Rees in a Celtic League match against Border Reivers.

With Rees at the 2007 Rugby World Cup and Aled Gravelle out with a foot injury, Owens began the 2007–08 season competing with James Hayter to be the Scarlets' starting hooker.

He was a replacement for the first five games of the season and started against Ulster on 12 October 2007, but Rees' return and a knee injury meant he did not play again until the end of February 2008, even then only playing three times in the second half of the season.

In 2008–09, Owens and Rees between them started all but two of the Scarlets' matches, though Rees took the lion's share, while Owens had to be content with starting mostly in the Anglo-Welsh Cup or while Rees was on international duty with Wales, during the 2008 Autumn internationals and the 2009 Six Nations.

He scored his second try for the Scarlets on one of those starts, the only try in a 13–6 win over Edinburgh on 8 March 2009.

With Rees on tour with the British & Irish Lions in South Africa, Owens began the 2009–10 season as the Scarlets' first-choice hooker, and in the third game of the season in September 2009, he gave a man-of-the-match performance in a 22–20 home defeat to Munster.

In December 2009, Owens signed a new contract with the Scarlets, committing himself to the region until 2013.

He missed only two games throughout the season due to Rees' Wales commitments, starting in all but six of his appearances, and scoring a try in a 27–14 loss away to Leinster on 20 February 2010.

In 2010–11, Owens served as back-up to Rees, taking advantage of Rees' absence with Wales to start in six out of seven matches during the 2010 Autumn internationals; however, he suffered a recurrence of a neck injury in late 2010, and underwent surgery in January 2011 that ruled him out for the next four months.

He recovered in time to be named on the bench for the Scarlets' 38–23 final-day win over the Cardiff Blues, but he did not come on.

He also served as backup to Rees, among others, for Wales following his debut against Namibia at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Owens was called up to the Wales training camp ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup at the start of the 2011–12 season, but his recent recovery from injury meant he was down the pecking order and was released to play for the Scarlets in their pre-season matches against Rotherham Titans and Clermont; however, his selection in the final squad for the World Cup meant he did not make his first start of 2011 until 29 October, in a 24–17 win over Ulster.

He competed with Rees for the starting hooker job throughout the season, though Rees was more often selected for the Scarlets' Heineken Cup campaign.

Owens scored his first Heineken Cup try after coming off the bench for Rees against Munster on 18 December 2011, securing a bonus point for the Scarlets, and his only start in the competition that season came in the Scarlets' final pool match, a 16–13 away win over Castres that saw them qualify for the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.

In 2012–13, Owens started just two of the Scarlets' eight games before he was called up to the Wales team for the 2012 Autumn internationals.

He returned on the bench for their Heineken Cup match against Exeter on 8 December, before starting the return fixture at Sandy Park a week later.

He scored a try in the match, which the Scarlets lost 30–20, but suffered popped rib cartilage that ruled him out for the next three matches.

He returned in time to start both of the Scarlets' Heineken Cup double-header against Leinster and Clermont, before missing the next seven matches on Wales duty.

On 11 March 2013, following the announcement of Rees' departure for the Cardiff Blues, Owens signed a contract extension with the Scarlets that would keep him with the region until 2016.

Rees' departure meant Owens began the 2013–14 season as the Scarlets' first-choice hooker, and he started four of their first five games of the campaign; however, a combination of an abdominal injury suffered ahead of their first Heineken Cup game against Harlequins and a call-up to the Wales team for the 2013 Autumn internationals meant he missed the next eight games, making his return in the Heineken Cup double-header against Clermont at the start of December.

He suffered another injury in the Scarlets' Boxing Day loss to rivals the Ospreys, coming off with a calf problem just before half-time in a 10–6 loss.

He was originally due to make a comeback off the bench in the Scarlets' final Heineken Cup pool match against Harlequins on 19 January, but Kirby Myhill ended up being named in the matchday squad as the Scarlets lost 22–20 to finish third in the pool.

Owens' subsequent selection for the 2014 Six Nations meant he did not play again for the Scarlets until the end of March.

He started five of the last six games of the season, scoring tries in three straight games against Zebre, the Blues and the Dragons, with victory in the last of those three seeing the Scarlets qualify for the 2014–15 Champions Cup.

Ahead of the 2014–15 season, reports emerged that Owens was one of nine players due to be offered a central contract with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), in addition to already contracted national team captain Sam Warburton; however, Owens said he had not "spoken to anybody about it".

Owens was appointed as the Scarlets' captain for the 2014–15 season, taking over from co-captains Jonathan Davies, who had left for Clermont Auvergne, and Rob McCusker; however, just two games into the season, Owens suffered a neck injury that required surgery that initially ruled him out until after the 2014 Autumn internationals.

Owens hoped to make a return from the injury for the Scarlets' game against the Ospreys on 27 December, but nerve damage meant he ended up missing a further month, making his return against London Irish in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.

During his time out, he signed a new contract with the Scarlets, ending speculation that the WRU would need to sign him to a National Dual Contract to prevent him chasing a move outside Wales.

After being rested for the Scarlets' final Anglo-Welsh Cup match against Sale Sharks, Owens missed just one of the last nine games of the season, again scoring back-to-back tries against the Dragons and Blues; his try against the Dragons was controversially awarded after he collided with referee George Clancy, who appeared to impede Dragons defenders from bringing Owens down.

In 2016, he took over as Wales' first-choice hooker, and in January 2023, following almost a year out with a back injury, he was named as captain for the 2023 Six Nations Championship.

Owens is the son of Delme Owens, a former rugby player who played for Carmarthen Athletic RFC as a second row and later became the club's president; along with his wife Frankie, he also ran the club's junior section.

His maternal grandparents, Kenneth Bryan Maynard and Sarah Mary Lorraine Maynard, were both mayors of Carmarthen, and Kenneth also served as chairman of Dyfed County Council, leading to Owens being given the nickname "The Sheriff" by Scarlets teammate and future coach Dwayne Peel in Owens' first season with the Scarlets.

Owens attended Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin, and is a fluent Welsh speaker.