Rob Howley

Robert Howley (born 13 October 1970 in Bridgend) is a former Welsh rugby union player. He gained 59 caps for Wales, 22 of them as captain.
Howley made his Wales debut in February 1996. He was selected for the 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa, prompting speculation of a match-up with the Springboks' Joost van der Westhuizen, but Howley was injured.
Howley did make the 2001 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia and played in the first two tests before succumbing to injury.
Howley moved from Cardiff to Wasps and retired from international rugby. A wrist injury saw Howley announce his retirement from the game in 2004.
Following his retirement from playing Rob Howley coached Cardiff RFC before becoming the attack coach for the Wales national team in 2008. He has been Warren Gatland's assistant since Gatland's appointment in later 2007, helping the national side secure a number of trophies and Six Nations titles. In addition to this, he was part of the Welsh management team for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and 2015 Rugby World Cup.
He was attack coach during 2009 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa under head coach Ian McGeechan, and retained the role under Warren Gatland in the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia, helping the Lions secure their first series win since 1997.

During April 2012, he temporarily covered the day-to-day running of the coaching team, after Warren Gatland suffered two broken heels while on holiday in New Zealand. It was announced on 19 April 2012 that Warren Gatland would be unable to lead Wales on their 2012 tour to Australia because of his injury, and that Rob Howley would take charge as caretaker coach during the tour. It was later announced that Rob Howley would continue his caretaker role in the 2012 Autumn Internationals as Gatland was selected as head coach of the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia. Howerver, Howley would only coach Wales in the opening 2 matches; Argentina and Samoa, and that Gatland would return to coach the side against New Zealand and Australia in week 3 and 4. Due to Gatland's role as head coach of the Lions, he was unable to coach Wales in the 2013 Six Nations, therefore Howely continued his role through the 2013 tournament.

While coaching the Welsh side from June 2012 to March 2013, Rob Howley faced much criticism. His opening match as caretaker coach against the Barbarians was won by Wales 30–21. After that win Wales suffered 8 consecutive defeats, 6 of which were under the management of Howley. This included a 3–0 series defeat against Australia during their 2012 tour to Australia, a series white-wash in the 2012 Autumn Internationals and a loss in the opening round of the 2013 Six Nations against Ireland. The last 5 defeats was a record run of 5 home defeats. The streak was broken in round 2 of the Six Nations after beating France 6–16. Rob Howley led Wales to a Championship win in the 2013 Six Nations after beating England by a record winning margin, 30–3 at the Millennium Stadium. This was Wales fourth Championship win since it became the Six Nations in 2000, and the first time Wales has won back to back championship wins since their 1978/1979 championship wins.

On 7 September 2016, after Gatland retained his head coaching role of the British and Irish Lions for their 2017 tour to New Zealand, Howley was once again given the head coaching duties for the Welsh national side. He took charge of Wales effective immediately, coaching Wales in all 2016 Autumn internationals, which saw Wales win 3 from 4. He will also coach the side during the 2017 Six Nations Championship, and pending appointment to the British and Irish Lions at the same time, he will also coach Wales during their 2017 Summer tour.

Results

Date	Venue	Home	Score	Away	Notes
2012
2 June	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	30–21	Barbarians
9 June	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Australia	27–19	Wales	2012 Welsh tour to Australia
16 June	Etihad Stadium, Melbourne		25–23
23 June	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney		20–19
10 November	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	12–26	Argentina	2012 Autumn internationals
16 November	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	19–26	Samoa
2013
2 February	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	22–30	Ireland	2013 Six Nations
9 February	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	France	6–16	Wales
23 February	Stadio Olimpico, Rome	Italy	9–26	Wales
9 March	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh	Scotland	18–28	Wales
16 March	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	30–3	England
2016
5 November	Principality Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	8–32	Australia	2016 Autumn internationals
12 November	Principality Stadium, Cardiff		24–20	Argentina
19 November	Principality Stadium, Cardiff		33–30	Japan
26 November	Principality Stadium, Cardiff		27–13	South Africa
2017
5 February	Stadio Olimpico, Rome	Italy	–	Wales	2017 Six Nations
11 February	Principality Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	–	England
25 February	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh	Scotland	–	Wales
10 March	Principality Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	–	Ireland
18 March	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	Wales	–	France