Newport Gwent Dragons number eight Owen has been handed leadership duties after Thomas broke his thumb during the stunning victory over France in Paris last Saturday.

Gareth is a unique character, and so there is no way I can recreate his style of captaincy, said Owen.

But the key thing I have learnt from him is that you need to be yourself to get it right.

There are plenty of leaders in this side who will all make the job easy, and it could really have been any one of a number of players who could have got the nod.

It is a great time to be the Wales captain, but we all know we only got to the stage where we have started to win a few games through a lot of hard work and determination over a number of years.

Wales coach Mike Ruddock plans to announce his team for the Scotland game next Tuesday, with his team standing two wins away from a first Grand Slam since 1978.

His main injury concerns are wing Hal Luscombe, who has a hamstring problem, and hooker Robin McBryde, who has a knee injury.