THIS Saturday’s clash with Italy is going to be about putting “pride back in the shirt” as far as Wales hooker Ken Owens is concerned.

Warren Gatland’s side almost pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in Test match rugby at Twickenham but the 25-21 scoreline doesn’t reflect just how poor Wales were for a large portion of the game.

Owens and props Tomas Francis and Paul James were introduced to the action on 53 minutes, around the time that the visitors finally started to get into their stride.

The impact of the bench was clear to see as Wales fought back and Owens will be among those hoping to benefit from any changes Gatland makes for the Italy match.

But first and foremost, Owens knows the team must put on a show in front of their own fans in Cardiff to go some way to making up for the England defeat.

“We have to turn up and put some pride back in the shirt,” he said. “We will work hard as a squad like we always do and finish this championship on a high.

“We can still finish second and if we can win we can finish on a positive note.”

Owens struggled to explain Wales’s slowness out of the blocks at Twickenham and was perplexed by the number of tackles that were missed, especially in the first half.

“I can’t put my finger on it and it was very uncharacteristic of us,” he added. “We missed 19 tackles and that doesn’t happen.

“Our defence is our go to when we are under pressure and we build our game from that.

“We will have to analyse that and be honest with each other.

“I am not sure what happened in the first hour but they possibly won the battle of the gain line offensively and defensively, which is where the game is won and lost these days.

“Warren said at half-time we needed to sort it out and it was only the players that could do that.

“We needed to get some line speed and put them under pressure, which we managed to do in the second-half, but it was too little too late.

“We did well to get within a score and show some resolve and character and heart but overall in the 80 minutes they were a better team by a long way.”