Ken Owens: Wales hooker set for emotional return after 11 months out while Scotland bring in Jamie Hodgson for injured Sam Skinner

Click:Mindfulness Gifts

Wales hooker Ken Owens admits he is thankful to be back in the international setup after a “tough” 11 months battling a nerve issue in his back.

The 35-year-old, who has not played for his country since a Six Nations fixture against France in 2021, is set to return to the Test arena this weekend.

If he does feature against the All Blacks in Cardiff, it will bring an end to a horrendous period for the Wales hooker that he thought might never come.

Long road back to recovery for Owens

“The last 11 months have been tough, mentally and physically,” Owens said.

“It has been tough in a number of different ways, not being sure whether I was going to recover or not, but it has been a bit of a refresh as well.

“I decided early on that I would give myself every opportunity to return, because I knew even for life after rugby I would need to do the rehab.

“I threw everything into that and whatever happened, happened. Thankfully, I have got the opportunity to be back among the boys in the Welsh squad.”

Click Here: British & Irish Lions rugby shirts

Media quizzed Owens as to whether he had any doubts about his recovery, to which he replied: “Yes, a couple of times, but I wanted to see what happened.

“The medical advice from the surgeon was that the nerve could take a bit of time. There were certain times where I thought ‘do we keep going through it’? but thankfully I tried to stay as positive as I could be and got through it.”

Knows what’s coming intensity wise

Owens goes into this weekend with three Scarlets games under his belt and admits he will be drawing on past experience to prepare him for Test match rugby.

“You know what you need to do to get yourself up to speed,” he said.

“You are not shocked by the intensity of Test rugby, because that’s one thing experience gives you – you know what is coming.

“I think the biggest thing was probably if I had made the decision (to retire) would I regret it in years to come if I had gone too soon?

“If I had come back, I would have known if I was able to compete at this level or not. I think it was making sure I had done everything in my power to come back.

“You probably don’t appreciate things as much until it’s taken away from you. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.

“This is the first step, getting back in the squad. Hopefully, things go well and I prove myself and that I am still good enough to pull on the three feathers.”

Scotland call up Jamie Hodgson for Sam Skinner

Meanwhile, Scotland have called up Edinburgh second-row Jamie Hodgson to their Autumn Nations Series squad after Sam Skinner pulled out with an injury.

The Glasgow Warriors forward was forced off in the first half of Saturday’s 16-15 defeat to Australia and left Murrayfield afterwards with his foot in a brace.

Skinner was on Tuesday ruled out of selection and Hodgson, who has six caps for his country, has been drafted in ahead of this week’s home game against Fiji.

Lock has been a problem area for the Scots as they have also lost Scott Cummings due to injury last week, with Jonny Gray unavailable for the Australia game.