Wales hooker Owens out for up to four months after shoulder surgery

(Reuters) - Wales hooker Ken Owens has been ruled out for the rest of the year following surgery for a shoulder injury he picked up playing for Scarlets against Glasgow, his club said.

The 33-year-old will be sidelined for up to four months, Scarlets said in a statement https://www.scarlets.wales/article/squad-update, leaving him in a race to be fully fit for Wales' Six Nations campaign if it goes ahead as scheduled from February.

Owens made his Wales debut in 2011 and has been capped 77 times, playing twice for the British and Irish Lions.

Wales coach Wayne Pivac is set to name his squad later on Thursday for their game against France at the weekend. They then face Scotland in a rescheduled Six Nations game on Oct. 31.

Those matches will be followed by Wales' Autumn Nations Cup campaign in November where they face Ireland, Georgia and England.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)