Who is Ken Owens: Ten things you should know about the Wales hooker

Ken Owens is Wales’ most-capped hooker, representing his country more than 80 times, while he has also toured with the British & Irish Lions.

Here is more about the Scarlets front-rower…

Ten things you should know about Ken Owens

1. Ken Owens was born on 3 January 1987 in Carmarthen, Wales. He stands at 6ft (1.83m) and weighs 17st 5lb (110kg).

2. He has played for his region, Scarlets, since 2006 but he has also taken the field for Llanelli RFC and Carmarthen Quins, while Carmarthen Athletic is where he played his junior rugby.

Related: Ken Owens’s Life in Pictures

3. Owens has been involved in three World Cup campaigns for Wales, making his Test debut against Namibia in 2011 as well as being a key figure at the 2015 and 2019 tournaments.

4. Wales’ 2021 Six Nations title win was the fourth Owens has been part of having also been a member of the Grand Slam-winning sides of 2012 and 2019 as well as the 2013 championship-winning team.

Ken Owens has won four Six Nations titles (Getty Images)

5. He was selected for the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand and came off the bench in the first and third Tests in the drawn series.

Earlier that year he had won his 50th cap for Wales, against France in the Six Nations.

6. Owens is a fluent Welsh speaker and he has said the words of the national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, resonate for him.

7. He is married to Carys Owens, the managing director of Whisper Cymru, and the couple have a son together called Efan.

8. In 2019, Owens received an honorary fellowship from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. He followed in the footsteps of Llanelli players Phil Bennett, Roy Bergiers, Ray Gravell and Delme Thomas in receiving the honour.

9. Owens’s nickname is ‘The Sheriff’, which was coined by former Scarlets and Wales player Dwayne Peel.

Owens has said: “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.”

10. As a child, Owens was part of the local youth opera and performed in some productions.

He told Wales Online: “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.”

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