KAI OWEN

WORCESTER LOOSEHEAD

In 2016, Kai Owen suffered the heartbreaking experience of being summoned into the academy office at Worcester Warriors and told he wasn’t wanted.

It remains a painful memory.

No Under 18s contract offer meant it looked like game over for the former Telford Hornets RFC junior, who came through the same North Midlands U16s county set-up as England’s Ted Hill.

End of story? Not a bit of it, as Owen – now thriving again at Worcester while working under Chim Gale, the same academy manager who gave him the boot – happily recalls.

“I came out of that meeting and it was absolutely gutting,” says Owen. “It was my dream to play professional rugby and it felt like it had been taken away. But rather than sulking about it, I used it as motivation to go home and work even harder at making it happen.

“The temptation would have been to just go out with my mates and forget about rugby, but instead I thought, ‘I’ve got to do this’. I rebuilt my career playing for Bridgnorth, Coventry and Newport Salop and even went to Newport Gwent Dragons for a week to give that a try.

“I persevered and then, quite randomly, I got a call from Warriors one day last year asking if I could play an A-game for them. I jumped at it, played well and got another chance. I’ve shown that if you keep working hard and take your opportunities, you can come back.”

Owen’s perseverance earned him an academy contract and in October he made his first team debut in Paris. “I got involved in the Challenge Cup game at Stade Francais and that was brilliant. I even won a scrum penalty, which against a French pack is no mean feat,” he said. “It’s your dream really and I had a few messages from Donncha O’Callaghan, who was a tremendous guy to be around during my first spell at the club. “What happened before is in the past now and I just want to learn from brilliant coaches here like Mefin Davies and Rory Duncan and playing mentors like Ethan Waller, Ryan Bower, Nick Schonert and Gareth Milasinovich.” Owen’s performances in the Premiership Shield attracted attention and the 19-year-old was recently named in the 45-man preliminary England U20s squad for the Six Nations. He said: “I’ve never played any England rep rugby before but that’s a big target for me now and we’ve got another big block of Premiership Shield coming up that I’ll look to do well in.” Worcester’s academy is paying major dividends and Owen – a propping bundle of energy in a similar mould to Mako Vunipola – takes heart from the progress of his peers. He added: “What Ted Hill’s done with England is amazing and it’s been good to see what guys like James Scott, Will Butler, Ollie Lawrence and Joe Morris have done at age group level as well. There’s so much encouragement and hopefully it’s now my time to step up.” NEALE HARVEY