Owens eyeing a December return

The Welsh international, who this season was appointed skipper of the Welsh region, experienced back spasms and numbness in his arm after a freak training ground injury and in the end underwent surgery to remove pressure on a nerve in his spine.

In his absence the Scarlets are currently sitting sixth in the GUINNESS PRO12 having won two, lost two and drawn one of their opening five fixtures.

And while Owens cannot wait to make his return, the hooker admits he is having to bide his time to be in the best possible shape.

"I didn't really think much of it at the time," he said.

"As the week went on it was getting worse, I had a scan and it showed a prolapsed disc.

"There was an option to rest it and be a bit more conservative and wait for things to get better but thankfully after we had the surgery the doctor said the piece of disc was bigger than he thought so we picked the right option.

"I'm glad I had it done and it's all sorted, now I can spend the next 12 weeks rehabbing it and strengthening it up to be back at Christmas time."

Owens will miss the region's opening fixtures in the European Rugby Champions Cup as well as Wales autumn internationals.

And the 27-year-old struggles to hide his frustration at the timing of his injury with a World Cup around the corner.

"It's hugely frustrating because it's a big period of rugby with the new European competition and the autumn internationals," he added.

"In my first season as captain of the Scarlets I would have loved to have led the team out in Europe and it's a very exciting autumn programme.

"But there's nothing I can do about that now I just have to get myself right. You have to try and be positive rather than negative and hopefully this is just a small bump in a long season."

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