Wales’ most capped hooker and oldest captain Ken Owens has retired, aged 37.
Owens played 91 internationals for Wales and five Tests for the British and Irish Lions on two tours.
He won four Six Nations titles, including two Grand Slams, appeared at three World Cups and won a league title with Scarlets but has been sidelined for almost a year by a back injury.
“Not playing has been challenging but the time is right to follow medical advice and hang up my boots,” he said.
Owens, who made his Wales debut at the 2011 World Cup, has been beset by injuries over recent years.
He battled back from serious neck and back issues to realise his dream of captaining Wales in the 2023 Six Nations – at the age of 36.
But the last game of that season in April, for Scarlets in the European Challenge Cup semi-final loss to Glasgow, has proved to be his final match due to a long-standing back problem that ruled him out of the 2023 World Cup.
Wales has seen a long and illustrious line of senior players retire from Test rugby over the past 12 months, including Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric, George North, Dan Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny.
“It might not be the dream ending but my career has been more than I could have dreamt of,” said Owens.
“Had I written the script there would have been one more game for Wales, for the Scarlets and ultimately Carmarthen Athletic. A chance to sign off and thank everyone involved. It was not to be.
“Whilst part of me wishes I could have done more, I am well aware that if you had told me as a kid I would be fortunate enough to experience what I have, to have worked with and played with the people I have and taken the pleasure I have from this amazing game, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Wales and Lions
Owens twice reached a World Cup semi-final with Wales and won Grand Slams in 2012 and 2019, as well as Six Nations titles in 2013 and 2021.
He was selected on successive Lions tours, playing two Tests against New Zealand in 2017 and starting all three against South Africa four years later, scoring a try in the final game.
Owens’ final international was as captain against France in Paris in March 2023.
“To have played 91 times for Wales is an honour I can never fully describe,” said Owens.
“To be a Lion, I am lost for words.”
Owens has also developed into a senior figure off the field. A former chair of the Welsh Rugby Players Association (WRPA), he became the first Scarlets players’ representative to be promoted to the board in 2020.
He was also at the forefront of discussions when Wales’ players threatened to go on strike ahead of the game against England in February 2023 in a contractual row with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).
