‘I only think about it when I get extra cash doing Q&As’
Ken Owens’ Lions penalty scare is behind him and his focus is on Japan 2019, he tells James Corrigan
Ken Owens insists he does not dwell on his “moment” in the dramatic conclusion of last year’s British and Irish Lions tour when he so almost handed the series to New Zealand, although he does joke that if the penalty had stood, he might well have been cast into “exile”.
Instead, the Wales hooker will be at the forefront in his country’s autumn campaign to build the momentum he believes could be vital for their Webb Ellis challenge next year.
Barring injury, illness or an unlikely drop in form, Japan will be the 31-year-old’s third World Cup, and he is hoping that Wales will go at least one better than the semi-final of 2011.
Owens knows that it will take something special in his sport’s showcase for him to become widely known for something other than those dying minutes at Eden Park last July.
It is already written large in Lions folklore that in the deciding Test, Owens was adjudged by Romain Poite to have deliberately handled the ball in an offside position. With the game at 15-15, the penalty was given and was eminently kickable. Yet, thanks to the intervention of Lions captain Sam Warburton, Poite took it to a video review before controversially downgrading the verdict to accidental offside and a scrum. Warburton revealed last week that all he said to the referee was: “Worth a check.” Three shorts words that had a huge impact on the career and life of Owens.
“If it had gone the other way, then the New Zealand public would have been very happy, but I wonder whether Beauden Barrett would have kicked the kick,” Owens said. “I might have had to go into exile or something. Thankfully, it didn’t cost us the result.
“It doesn’t keep me awake. In fact, I only think about it when I am picking up a little bit of extra cash doing Q&As, and it always goes down well. So, I suppose because of that incident, I’m sorted for a long time after rugby.
Nicknamed “The Sheriff of Carmarthen”, Owens is a no-nonsense type not prone to periods of selfreflection. His go-forward philosophy has proven effective with Wales and the Scarlets, where he is captain, and although the wrong side of 30, he feels there remain advances to be made.
“You can always get better,’ he said. “There is a lot of competition at the Scarlets, as with Wales, and that’s brilliant. It brings the best out of you. I’d like to think I can still improve. The moment you think you’re the finished article, you’re done.”
Owens’s exertions with the Lions led to him being rested for Wales’s tour in the summer, when they played South Africa and Argentina, but his understudies, Scarlets team-mate Ryan Elias and Dragons’ Elliot Dee, showed they were more than capable of filling the role in the three Test wins. It is ominous for Owens in one respect but encouraging in others.
“There was a bit of a transition in terms of young boys coming through in the year before the last two World Cups,” he said. “And at this point, we’re possibly ahead of where we were in the past. We have won our last five games and are ranked third in the world. That’s a huge confidence boost. It is important we stay up there and keep building this momentum.”
The series starts with Scotland’s visit on Saturday, and Owens believes facing their Six Nations rivals before tackling Australia, Tonga and South Africa will have benefits for Wales.
“We usually just play four southern hemisphere sides in this batch of Tests, but this will be like a World Cup when we will be playing a northern hemisphere team before taking on the southern lads,” he said. “We will have to switch our mindset and play slightly differently.”
The focus is on Scotland, but Owens admitted the Wallabies would be “the sweetest scalp”. Wales have lost 13 Tests in succession to Australia and once again have been drawn in the same World Cup pool.
“If we lose to Australia again, going into the World Cup, people will only be talking about our record against them, so if we pick up a win, that psychological barrier will be gone,” he said. “In some of those losses, the margin of defeat has been very small [one score in seven of those encounters], one error.
“We tend to have started slowly in the autumn series. Hopefully this year, with the confidence we’ve got from the summer and obviously the prep we’ve had playing Scotland first, we can be ready for Australia.”