Dicky Owen

Dicky Owen

Owen in Welsh jersey (1905)
Full name	Richard Morgan Owens
Nickname	The Pocket Hercules the Bullet the Pocket Oracle
Date of birth	(1876-11-17)17 November 1876
Place of birth	Llandore, Wales
Date of death	27 February 1932(1932-02-27) (aged 55)
Place of death	Swansea, Wales
Height	5 ft 4 in (163 cm)
Weight	9 st 7 lb (133 lb; 60 kg)
Notable relative(s)	Will Joseph (cousin)
Occupation(s)	steelworker publican
Rugby union career
Position(s) Scrum-half Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) ? 1899-1913 1906 Hafod Rovers Swansea RFC Glamorgan () National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1901-1912 Wales 35 ((6))

Dicky Owen (17 November 1876 - 27 February 1932) was a Welsh international scrum-half who played club rugby for Swansea RFC Owen is seen as one of the greatest Welsh scrum-halves and won 35 caps for Wales between 1901 and 1912, a record that was unbeaten until 1955 when Ken Jones surpassed him.

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:

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 9 January 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.