It means the 27-year-old Scarlets skipper will miss the games against Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and South Africa and will also miss the opening two rounds of his regions’ European Rugby Champions Cup campaign.
Owens, who has won 26 caps for Wales, injured a disc in his neck in training ahead of last weekend’s Guinness PRO12 clash with Benetton Treviso at Parc y Scarlets.
“It’s a shame for both Ken on a personal level and the team as a whole that he will require surgery on the injury he received earlier last week to his neck,” explained Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac.
“Ken had been playing well but the focus now is to get see him through the surgery and get him back here with us for rehabilitation. We’re very pleased to have Emyr Phillips step straight in there and play like he did against Benetton Treviso.”
Owens went to see three different specialists before the decision was taken he needed to go under the knife. The operation is due to take place next week and he is ecpected to be out of action for up to 12 weeks.
“Unfortunately Ken injured his neck in a training session a week last Tuesday. Following thorough investigations the scans have confirmed the he’s injured a disc in his neck,” said the Scarlets Head of Performance, Andrew Walker.
“After a thorough process, involving consultations with three neck specialists, we have decided that surgery is the best course of action.”
