Ken Owens will miss the World Cup due to injury; the tournament in France takes place from September 8 to October 28; Wales will take on Australia, Fiji, Georgia and Portugal in their pool as they look to cause a surprise after a difficult 18 months
Monday 26 June 2023 15:55, UK
Wales captain Ken Owens has been ruled out of the World Cup due to a back injury.
Owens has been released from the training squad along with Scarlets team-mate Josh Macleod, who has a shoulder problem.
Since the preliminary squad was revealed at the start of May, Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb all announced their retirement from international rugby.
"Ken didn't train at all with us [in recent weeks], his back has not recovered," head coach Warren Gatland said.
"He has not been able to do any of the training. It is the same injury but not as severe as before so he may need an operation on that.
"He wanted to reiterate he has not retired from rugby and he is hoping potentially he could be available later if we pick up injuries in the tournament."
Owens captained Wales at the Six Nations earlier this year but will not participate in a fourth World Cup.
Gatland says it is possible the 36-year-old could feature in the latter stages of the tournament, if there was an injury at hooker, but he will not be named in the 33-player squad at the end of August.
Asked about Owens' successor, Gatland added: "Co-captaincy is a possibility. We did that with Ellis Jenkins and Cory Hill in 2018 and it worked well. It is something I have put out there potentially as an option, it is not guaranteed we will do that.
"We will put a leadership group together and we will tell the players. You look at the squad and I don't think there are any guaranteed starting positions and players will get opportunities in the squad.
"It is looking at the team and picking the right person as captain. It is the support they are going to get or is it potentially co-captains that can share that role and responsibility?"
Outside-half Dan Biggar, who captained Wales in the 2022 Six Nations and the following summer tour to South Africa, and second-row forward Adam Beard are among the leading candidates to take the armband.
Possible younger options could be hooker Dewi Lake, 24, and 23-year-old flanker Jac Morgan.
Asked if he would consider a young captain again, as he did by choosing 22-year-old Sam Warburton at the 2011 World Cup, Gatland said: "Yes absolutely. We have time for that with the two camps [in Switzerland and Turkey] and seeing more of the rugby.
"We have been doing that more with players getting plenty of touches on the ball. We probably won't name a captain or captains until we name the squad."
As well as Macleod, Cardiff prop Will Davies-King (foot) has also been released from the training squad.
Taulupe Faletau will miss the first week of the Switzerland camp because of a calf injury, while Alex Cuthbert and Owen Williams will miss the trip altogether but Gatland, who has called Ospreys hooker Sam Parry into a revised 47-man squad, is confident they will be fit for the Turkey trip.
Forwards (25): Corey Domachowski, Kemsley Mathias, Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee, Ryan Elias, Dewi Lake, Sam Parry, Keiron Assiratti, Tomas Francis, Dillon Lewis, Henry Thomas, Adam Beard, Ben Carter, Rhys Davies, Dafydd Jenkins, Will Rowlands, Christ Tshiunza, Teddy Williams, Taine Basham, Taulupe Faletau, Dan Lydiate, Jac Morgan, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright
Backs (22): Gareth Davies, Kieran Hardy, Tomos Williams, Gareth Anscombe, Dan Biggar, Sam Costelow, Owen Williams, Mason Grady, Max Llewellyn, George North, Joe Roberts, Nick Tompkins, Johnny Williams, Keiran Williams, Josh Adams, Alex Cuthbert, Rio Dyer, Cai Evans, Leigh Halfpenny, Louis Rees-Zammit, Tom Rogers, Liam Williams
