Ken Owens believes that improvements have been made since the Autumn Nations Cup

"THE BIGGEST THING THAT CAME FROM IT IS THE OPPORTUNITY THE PLAYERS HAD" - OWENS

21st February 2021 Dylan James Rugby 0
Pic - James Dodd

by Dylan James

WALES hooker Ken Owens has assured the Welsh public that the work is being put in behind the scenes to correct the shortcomings of the Autumn Nations Cup. 

Pivac’s opening few months as coach of Wales certainly didn’t go as planned. Despite brushing aside Italy 42-0 in his first game at the helm, Wales struggled massively to establish themselves as world beaters, with the team looking a shadow of their former selves, a shadow which is desperately trying to emulate the quality shown in 2019’s Grand Slam success.

However, despite the less-than-pleasing performances during the Autumn Nations Cup, international veteran hooker Ken Owens has explained that the work is being put in behind the scenes to amend these issues and push on for good form.

“I think everybody is frustrated with the Autumn (Nations Cup), there had been a lot of hard work going in, and perhaps it hasn’t been quite translated onto the field.”

“The biggest thing that came from it is the opportunity players had.”

The autumn presented a marvellous opportunity for Pivac to bleed through young players, and this experiment may just be the silver lining to the poor performances shown during the tail-end of 2020.

Louis Rees-Zammit has been a shining light for Wales in the opening two rounds of the Six Nations, and has certainly benefited from some first team action in the autumn.

Despite being included in the 2020 Six Nations squad, Zammit never featured, so you could argue that his exposure to test rugby in the Nations Cup has been instrumental in his development as a top level player. Ken Owens certainly believes that this is the case.

“We had a lot of injuries last week, but some boys have come in and they’re much better for that, and have been able to step up straight away because they’ve had their exposure during the autumn.”

It was obvious during the autumn that Wales had a serious weakness at the set piece. Ryan Elias had the blame heaped upon him, but it became clear that the problem went much deeper than one player’s inability to throw straight. Even with Elias out of the team Wales have been void of confidence at the line out, losing possession on their own throw on multiple occasions.

Owens explained that getting this part of the game nailed on is vital, and believes that there have been improvements in the opening two rounds.

“Getting that cohesion with us defensively and forwards wise – nailing that set piece. There has been steady improvement in those areas in this campaign so far.”

Attack was always something on the mind of Pivac, especially during his time with the Scarlets, where they blew away their opponents, most notably against Munster in the Pro12 final in 2017.

Welsh fans have been eagerly awaiting the rebirth of this attacking prowess, with many hoping it could be translated into the national team, and we are slowly seeing progress, says Ken.

“From an attacking point of view, we’ve changed up and we’ve been a lot better there as well, even though I do think we’ve got room to improve. Luckily enough we’ve got three games over the next month or so to be able to do that.”

On Saturday at 16:45, the English rose will once again take on the Welsh dragon, in what always promises to be a heated and passionate international encounter.

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