Robert Howley (born 13 October 1970) is a Welsh former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player and coach. As a player, he won 59 caps for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, 22 of them as captain. He was part of the Wales coaching team for many years. He is currently a coaching consultant for the

Toronto Arrows Toronto Arrows R.F.C. is a rugby union club based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that plays in Major League Rugby. The Arrows team is an independent off-shoot of the Ontario Blues provincial programme and is funded by a group of private investors ...

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

(MLR).

Playing career

Club

Howley played for

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

. He gained the distinction of Welsh Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997. He helped Wasps win back-to-back Premiership titles in 2003 and 2004. He also helped Wasps win the Heineken Cup in 2004; his late try in the final won them the game against Toulouse. A wrist injury saw Howley announce his retirement from the game in 2004.

International

Howley represented Wales at Schools, Students, U21, A and B levels. He made his senior Wales debut in February 1996. He was selected for the

1997 British Lions tour to South Africa The 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa was a series of matches played by the British Lions rugby union team in South Africa. This tour followed the Lions' 1993 tour to New Zealand and preceded their 2001 tour to Australia. The much-ant ...

, prompting speculation of a match-up with the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

Joost van der Westhuizen Joost Heystek van der Westhuizen (20 February 1971 – 6 February 2017) was a South African professional rugby union player who made 89 appearances in test matches for the national team, scoring 38 tries. He mostly played as a scrum-half and ...

, but Howley suffered a tour-ending shoulder injury in a match against

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

prior to the start of the test series. Howley made the

2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia The 2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia was a series of matches played by the British & Irish Lions rugby union team in Australia. The Lions squad was captained by Martin Johnson, the first player to lead the Lions on two tours. The ...

and played in the first two tests before succumbing to injury. He retired from international rugby when he joined Wasps.

Coaching career

Following his retirement from playing, Howley coached Cardiff RFC. In 2008, he was named as the attack coach as part of

Warren Gatland Warren David Gatland (born 17 September 1963) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player who is currently in his second spell as the head coach of the Wales national team. As head coach of Wales from 2007 to 2019, he won four Six N ...

coaching staff. Over the next 12 years, the national side won four Six Nations titles, including three Grand Slams, and reached the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

semi-finals in

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and the quarter-finals in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. He was attack coach during

2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa The 2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour which took place in South Africa from May to July 2009. The British & Irish Lions played a three-match Test series against South Africa, with matches in ...

under head coach

Ian McGeechan Sir Ian Robert McGeechan, OBE (born 30 October 1946) is a retired Scottish rugby union player, coach and teacher. Born in Leeds, McGeechan represented Headingley as his only club during a 15-year club career, qualifying for Scotland through hi ...

, and retained the role under Warren Gatland in the

2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia The 2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia was a rugby union tour during June and July 2013. The British & Irish Lions played ten matches - a three-test series against Australia, and matches against the five Australian Super Rugby sides, a ...

, helping the Lions secure their first series win since 1997.

Wales caretaker coach

2012–2013

In April 2012, Howley temporarily covered the day-to-day running of the coaching team, after Warren Gatland suffered two broken heels while on holiday in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Warren Gatland was unable to lead Wales on their 2012 tour to Australia because of his injury, and Rob Howley took charge as caretaker coach during the tour. Rob Howley continued his caretaker role in the 2012 Autumn Internationals as Gatland was selected as head coach of the

. However, Howley would only coach Wales in the opening 2 matches;

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, and that Gatland would return to coach the side against

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

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 The 2013 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2013 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 14th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championsh ...

, therefore Howley continued his role through the 2013 tournament. As Wales coach, Howley faced much criticism. Wales beat the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

30–21 in his opening match as caretaker, but after that, Wales suffered eight consecutive defeats, six of which were under Howley. This included a 3–0 series defeat against Australia during their 2012 tour, a series whitewash in the 2012 Autumn internationals and a loss in the opening round of the 2013 Six Nations against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The last five defeats were all at home, setting a new Wales record for consecutive home defeats. The streak was broken in round 2 of the Six Nations with a 16–6 win over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. 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 won back-to-back championships since 1979.

2016–2017

On 7 September 2016, Howley was once again given the head coaching duties for the Welsh national side after Gatland retained his head coaching role of the British & Irish Lions for their 2017 tour to New Zealand. Howley took charge of Wales effective immediately, coaching Wales in all 2016 Autumn internationals, which saw Wales win 3 from 4. He also coached the side during the

2017 Six Nations Championship The 2017 Six Nations Championship was the 18th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. The tournament was also known as the RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by NatWest ...

, and assisted the British & Irish Lions during their 2017 Summer tour.

2019 suspension

On 17 September 2019 Rob Howley was sent home from Wales'

training camp in Japan for a breach of sports betting rules. He was later banned for 18 months with nine suspended after being found guilty of placing 363 bets on rugby union, covering 1,163 matches in total. Howley linked his betting to his sister's depression, alcoholism and early death.

Results

References

External links

Wasps profileScrum.com player statistics

Planet-rugby stats

Sporting heroes 1234
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howley, Rob 1970 births Bridgend RFC players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Barbarian F.C. players Cardiff RFC players Living people People educated at Ysgol Brynteg Rugby union players from Bridgend Rugby union scrum-halves Wales international rugby union players Wales national rugby union team coaches Wales rugby union captains Wasps RFC players Welsh rugby union coaches Welsh rugby union players