Wales welcome Italy to Principality Stadium after the Azzurri lost 58-15 in Ireland and Owens is desperate to make a statement in front of their home crowd.
"I am not sure what happened in the first hour, but they possibly won the battle of the gain-line offensively and defensively, which is where the game is won and lost these days," he said.
"I can't put my finger on it, and it was very uncharacteristic of us. We missed 19 tackles. Our defence is our go-to when we are under pressure, and we build our game from that.
"It is not like us to miss 19 tackles in the first-half. We only missed 19 tackles in the whole (2015) World Cup. We had an off-day, and good teams like England punish you."
Wales have never lost to the Azzurri at Principality Stadium, the only blot on their copybook against the Italians at home is an 18-18 draw in 2006, but Owens will not be taking the visitors lightly.
And Owens, who has played six times in the GUINNESS PRO12 this season, insists they will graft all week to ensure they emulate their second-half performance for 80 minutes.
He said: "We have to turn up next week and play Italy and put some pride back in the shirt. We will work hard as a squad like we always do, and finish this championship on a high.
"The good thing about this group is that we are honest. We will learn from this. I won't have any bones about being told what I did wrong.
"We need to be a lot better defensively next week, because Italy have some real threats out wide.
"We want to put on a real show next week. We have a point to prove. That is something we will take on board, and if there is pressure from outside and from the coaches, then we will react to that."
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