Hulking Welsh wing from the rugby nursery that produced Warburton says he's hungry for more finals
As ticker tape rained down on the San Mames pitch one Friday night last May, Owen Lane stood with his left arm aloft and a Challenge Cup winner’s medal hanging from his neck.
Having broken into the Cardiff Blues line-up just six months before it was a thrilling way to cap his maiden season as a first-team player. His face beamed with pride, yet the injury which forced him off the field after less than half-an-hour and confined his right arm and hand to a cast in those post-match celebrations ensures that the memory is bitter-sweet.
“It was special,” Lane tells RugbyPass. “(But) personally I don’t actually feel like I contributed in the final because obviously I went off and it was a difficult one for me because I was so happy we’d won but at the same time I had reservations because I really wanted to be out there and I really wanted to be a part of it on the field.
“But it was still a massive achievement for the Blues and I’m happy to see the Blues do so well, and I know that I was a part of the build-up so it was pretty special to finish the season off like that.”
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Lane had been on fire in the lead-up to that nail-biting defeat of Gloucester, scoring four tries in his previous five PRO14 matches and playing 80 minutes in both the quarter-final win at Edinburgh and semi-final defeat of Pau en route to the Challenge Cup showpiece.
His form had put him into contention for Wales’ summer tour of the United States and Argentina, but any hopes he had of making that trip ended when he trudged off the pitch with his arm in a makeshift sling.
Lane had been dreaming of playing on that stage since he was a child, and his experience in Bilbao has left him with an appetite for more.
“It does give you a hunger,” he says. “And it just means you want to go out and do it again really because you want to experience it.
“I would say it gives you a hunger and it kind of gives you a bit of a drive to go out and do it again.”
The hulking wing-cum-centre has certainly picked up where he left off this season, playing all-but one minute of the Blues’ five PRO14 matches, albeit without yet breaching the try line.
That first Wales call-up could well come this November, when Wales take on Scotland, Australia, Tonga and South Africa in Cardiff. Not that Lane will let it dominate his thoughts.
“I don’t think it’s particularly in the forefront of my mind, because that would have a detrimental effect on your performance,” he explains. “I don’t think you should be thinking about that sort of thing when you take the field.
“But regarding if that’s something you want to achieve, I think any rugby player growing up in Wales wants to represent their country. That’s the pinnacle of your career, obviously (there’s also) the Lions but that’s a different kettle of fish.”
Lane adds: “I know that the only way that you are going to get selected for Wales is if you are performing every week for the Blues. There’s a lot of competition here at the moment in the back three and in the centre.
“So, at the moment I’m just concentrating on trying to hold my space here and if you try and put some performances together and bring some consistency then hopefully you get a look in with the senior squad.”
Lane has starred for Wales under-20s having received the “kick up the arse” he needed to rejuvenate his 15s career during a season on the World Rugby Sevens Series circuit. As he attempts to take that next step on the international stage he doesn’t have to look far for inspiration.
An alumni of Whitchurch High School, Lane first met Sam Warburton when the former Wales and British & Irish Lions captain presented his team’s jerseys before a Wales schools final in 2014.
Warburton stayed to watch the match and afterwards he was on hand to offer the youngster some advice. The jackal specialist has of course since retired but that meeting was pivotal in making Lane feel at ease when he started training with the Blues’ first team.
“To even just have a bit of one-on-one time with someone like Sam, he was already a Lions captain (with a) series win in Australia, it was pretty special for me,” Lane says.
“I definitely found it pretty surreal when I was coming into the (Blues) environment that, you’re not really friends but you’ve already spoken to him and you’re already acquaintances with someone like that. It was pretty cool.”
Warburton’s shock decision to end his playing career, at just 29, in July came at a time when Whitchurch High School was headline news. Geraint Thomas, another old boy, was in the midst of an historic Tour de France campaign while Gareth Bale, who had been in the same year as Warburton, had helped Real Madrid to Champions League glory with a stunning bicycle kick two months earlier.
Lane, 20, was some years behind that famous triumvirate, but their achievements provided both a catalyst for his own ambition, and proof that it could be attained.
“They were really good with coming into the school,” he says. “I know Warby (Warburton) and Gareth and Geraint all came in and they’d give question and answers.
“It just makes it a bit more tangible because you can actually see that people from your school in the same situation as you have obviously gone on and performed on the top stage. So, it definitely gives you something to aim for.”
Outside of Whitchurch, Lane was drawn towards the All Blacks as a young rugby fan, but while it was Dan Carter that initially took his attention he admitted paying closer attention to Ben Smith as he attempts to hone his skills on the wing.
“You always look at the top teams and how successful they are, and you naturally gravitate towards the All Blacks. I was a big fan of Dan Carter when I was growing up,” he says.
“But I think now that I’ve got older maybe looking at the players – especially with my transition to the wing – players like Ben Smith. The amount of time he has on the ball and the amount of involvement, I’ve done a lot of work with the analysts on coding.
“Richie Rees, our skills coach, has been coding Ben’s clips from his All Blacks games and it’s definitely something that you can look at and try and emulate, just the amount that he touches the ball.
“And I have a lot of respect for him and what he’s achieved. I think he is probably the best rugby player in the world at the moment.”
Wales and Blues fans will hope youngsters are paying similar attention to Lane in years to come.
Comments on RugbyPass
Probably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
198 Go to commentsWho hurt this man.. LoL 😭
198 Go to commentsIt unfortunate for the Jaguares that they became formidable just as super rugby as we knew came to an end. However, the idea of bringing them back is nonsensical. While I enjoyed the Jaguares and the South African flavour of the comp, a selling point of this incarnation of super rugby is that all games are on a decent time for an Aussie audience.
2 Go to commentslol that’s your opinion Ben, All Blacks benefited from a forward pass try, SA played 77 min without a recognised hooker, missed a no try conversion and a penalty could have would have but didn’t
198 Go to commentsBrett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
2 Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
4 Go to commentsHow did it end a draw. South Africa didn’t score any points as far as I can see
4 Go to commentsNo doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
1 Go to commentsDom kant
198 Go to commentsBen is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
198 Go to commentsPerhaps we may need to put an asterisk on NZ’s ‘87 WC win since the Boks weren’t there. You know, just as a reminder. Poor Ben Smith. Go cry somewhere else.
198 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
4 Go to commentsThanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
4 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
4 Go to commentsOne does not expect anything more from Ben Smith who epitomises the worst of New Zealand media arrogance and an inability to balance what he has to say about any team that beats the All Blacks. His reference to context is pathetically thin. He does not comment that Frizell deserved a red card given his blatant manipulation of his body to ensure that he could drop his body weight onto Mbonambi’s lower leg. No mention of the ball lost forward before the All Black’s try (lost in-field of the 5 metre line and gathered beyond). The All Black commitment and effort was superb and there was little in it. Given the Springbok passage to the final and the loss of their hooker in the first three minutes, their resolve and capacity to win their fourth final out of eight attempts (not three out of ten) deserves the praise that has been forthcoming from media around the world, worth reading and listening to. Ben should join his “pundit” friends on TV - he would fit in well. This sort of article reduces any credibility Rugby Pass has ever had. Why persist with this sort of nonsense? The man does his country and a rugby blog a disservice.
198 Go to commentsEtzebeth went on to say: “I would never dream of saying that systems stay in place following a change in captain. To say that would be deeply, deeply, disrespectful of Siya. A while back an Irish person told me they would be fine without Sexton, so I’m just responding to that.”
3 Go to commentsClose games are what we want to see…. What a match it was…. I am sure that everyone was drained by the end of it. The reality of it all there has to be a winner and a loser. The fact that we still talking about it is almost 6 months to the day Rugby is the winner.. Asante sana… Here is to 2027 and what it will bring out.
198 Go to commentsIt’s going to be a good game. COYQ
1 Go to comments“Shock”, the guy was casually saying he was just slightly surprised. Nowadays if you say anything it gets taken completely out of context. Calm down everyone.
156 Go to commentsAll I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
198 Go to comments