Influence in Rugby
Born Richard Morgan Owens in 1876, "Dicky" Owen was one of the great players of Wales' first Golden Era of rugby. He played in five Triple Crown winning teams and along with Gareth Edwards and Haydn Tanner is seen as the greatest scrum-half produced by Wales.
Owen was an innovative rugby player, continually attempting to devise new tactics and moves. He is recognised as a developer of feint attacks and realised the influence of a scrum-half linking with wing-forwards in attacking moves. He is also noted for his swift distribution play, which some fly-halves, especially Percy Bush found difficult to adapt to. Speaking in 1927, Owen explained his philosophy on scrum-half play:
| “ | ...My advice to a scrum half is to do away with kicking into touch; or in fact, any kicking at all. That should be left to the stand off...My idea is that the scrum worker, directly the ball is heeled, should pass direct and as swiftly as possible to the stand-off man...If you are going to pass do so at once, and from the very spot where you get the ball. If you decide to run, also do so at once, and keep thinking as you run. | ” |
An example of Owen's tactical mind was seen in one of his early international matches against England in 1902. Wales were behind in the game with little time remaining when Owen tricked his opposite number, Bernard Oughtred, into an off-side tackle near the English posts. With the Welsh in charge of the scrum on the English '25', Owen told his forwards, in Welsh, to keep hold of the ball, while Owen bent down and pretended to collect it. Oughtred came around the scrum to tackle Owen and finding the Welshman empty handed was penalised for being off-side. John Strand-Jones kicked the penalty, allowing Wales to win 9-8.
On January 9, 1904 Wales again faced England during the Home Nations Championship. The referee for that match was a Mr. Findlay of the Scottish Rugby Union, whose interpretation of the rules was so confusing the Welsh players gave away eleven penalties, seven within goal range, before the first half. Owen decided that rather than give any further dubious penalties away, he allowed his English counterpart to put the ball into scrums even when it was a Welsh put-in.
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