Ken ‘the Sheriff’ on singing the anthem, upsetting All Blacks and so much more
KEN Owens has had some career, with 77 caps for Wales – a record for a hooker – and two Tests for the Lions, while he’s been part of two Grand Slams and a further Six Nations.
Known throughout the game as The Sherrif, he’s a real heartbeat of the Welsh team and one of the most respected figures in the sport.
He’s been reflecting on his journey on Joe’s House of Rugby podcast and here’s what he had to say on a whole range of topics.
HIS YOUNGER DAYS
I was probably my own worst enemy. I enjoyed youth rugby. I enjoyed going out and having a beer and all the rest of it. So I probably wasn’t in the best physical state.
I remember I got sat down by a school teacher. He said if you want to give it a go, you need to wise up now.
So I lost a lot of weight, but I always felt every hurdle I crossed there would be something else or somebody saying you are not quite good enough, not quite fit enough.
There has been that constant inspiration of trying to prove people wrong throughout my career. I use it as a positive motivation.
HIS NICKNAME
IT started in my first season at the Scarlets. Dwayne Peel just started calling me The Sheriff. My grandparents were both mayors of Carmarthen and sheriffs of their time. I love the town so much, I can turn every story back to Carmarthen, so that’s probably why it started. It’s a good place to grow up and a good place to live.
MUSICAL YOUTH
I used to perform in the local youth opera and spent a lot of time there. It was good fun and probably what has helped my social skills and being able to talk to people.
I remember I was a leper in Jesus Christ Superstar. I also had to roll this piano on the stage in one scene. That was fine in the Lyric Theatre in Carmarthen, where there was a flat stage. But we took it on tour to the Buxton Festival up in Derbyshire and there was a bit of a camber in the stage. As we running on, the piano almost fell into the orchestra pit.
SINGING THE ANTHEM
IT’S something that does motivate me and inspire me. I’m a fluent Welsh speaker, so the words really resonate. It speaks about the people of Wales and the people of your local community.
At primary school, you had to stand up in assembly and sing the anthem. That’s one of my earliest memories of school, so it’s always been a big part of what it means to be Welsh for me.
It gives me a lot of motivation when I’m playing, especially when you are in the Principality and you’ve got 70-odd thousand people there and it’s in full song. There’s no better motivation as a player.
I’m absolutely tone deaf now, I can not sing whatsoever, but you can get away with it in the anthem because I make up for it with passion and energy.
WARREN GATLAND
HE is pretty straight and that’s why I enjoyed playing under him over the years. You know exactly what he expects of you and you can just crack on then and know where you stand. He just gives you massive confidence and gets that winning mentality out of players.
His man management is so clever. He knows the individuals in his team and what they need to get the best out of them. Some boys just need to be hammered all the time because that’s how they perform. Others constantly need the carrot. It was probably stick early on with me.
He would be different to every player and he would keep changing his tack. It wouldn’t be the exact same way all the time. That was his biggest strength.
THE FINAL LIONS TEST OF 2017, THAT BIG CALL AND WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
JUST before it happened, I was going ‘Right boys, exit now, let’s restart, get the ball back down the field, switch on’ and all the rest of it.
Basically, don’t f*** up and then I f ***** up!
I went straight to Jonathan Davies, who is one of my best mates, and I said I am going to have to move to Trelech – which is about 17 miles out of Carmarthen, the most rural part of the county – and like hide away for the rest of my life.
So there was relief in there when it wasn’t a penalty.
I went into the New Zealand changing room afterwards to congratulate Kieran Read on his 100th cap and he wouldn’t really speak to me.
To be fair, he did apologise after the third place play-off at the World Cup. There were obviously emotions running high at the time.
When Romain Poite refs me now, he does drop in a little quip every now and again, with ‘Stay onside this time, Ken’ or something like that!
SHAUN EDWARDS
HE was great for the boys. One thing we have got in Wales, we like to be told what to do and have got a pretty good work ethic. That played straight into how Shaun coaches.
Boys want to work hard for him and