KEN OWENS
The Wales great who has represented the Lions and Scarlets with distinction
IT’S A very new squad that Warren Gatland has picked to tour Australia, with young boys getting opportunities.
It’s a tough year post World Cup with injuries and retirements, so it’s the start of a new period for the national team. Gats is trying to rest some key players, the likes of Will Rowlands, Alex Mann, Ryan Elias and Josh Adams, some of whom have played a lot of rugby. It’s the start of a new dawn for Welsh rugby now.
It’s good to see players like (former co-captains) Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan back in the squad, they will bring some experience and quality that was missing.
They want to cap and have a look at some boys playing over the bridge, like Gloucester’s Josh Hathaway (who played for England U20 last year). Some boys will be disappointed but the likes of Nicky Smith and Morgan Morris will just have to keep knocking at that door.
Jac Morgan’s return in particular is big because he’s been outstanding over the last couple of years. I played with him at the Scarlets when he was a youngster coming through. He was absolute quality then and he’s continued that form at every level he’s played at since. He had a great World Cup and he was leading the team fantastically well. The nation is disappointed that he’s missed a large part of the season through injury because he’s a very durable player. To have his playing ability back, plus the leadership traits that he brings, is going to be key with a lot of young players coming into the squad for the first time. Even though Jac is still young himself. It’s a strange old situation for Australia as they haven’t played since what was a very disappointing World Cup for them last year. They have a new coach, with Joe Schmidt replacing Eddie Jones, so it’s a new regime. They will be keen to start their preparations well leading up to the Lions tour in 2025.
The tour will give the Welsh boys a bit of added experience ahead of hopefully a few of them making Andy Farrell’s Lions squad. For the last couple of Lions tours, Wales have tended to tour the same country the year before.
But it will be mainly about getting some good wins away from home after, if we are being honest, what w
