Howley says he wouldn't do anything different on the Oz tour. Bar the last seconds of the second Test

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Rob Howley felt Wales would have won the series if Wales had of made better choices in the dying minutes of the second test down under.

Simon Thomas writes in the WM

Rob Howley had been looking to take a southern hemisphere scalp
Rob Howley insists he wouldn’t have done anything differently on Wales’ tour of Australia if he had his time again.

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Despite having gone down to a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of the Wallabies, Howley stands by his selection policy during the Test series.

He says it never crossed his mind to drop skipper Sam Warburton and maintains Rhys Priestland is still his number one outside-half.

The only thing he would change about the trip is the final couple of minutes in Melbourne, as he feels Wales would have gone on to win the series if they had held on for victory in that heartbreaking second Test.



While he acknowledges there are lessons to be learned from the tour, he is comfortable with the decisions he made at the helm, having taken over as interim head coach from the injured Warren Gatland.

“I wouldn’t have done anything differently,” he said.

“I wouldn’t change anything – apart from the last 90 seconds of that second Test.”

It was Howley’s same-again selection policy which provoked the most debate during the series, particularly the way he stuck by Priestland at No. 10 ahead of James Hook.

There were also calls in some quarters for captain Warburton to be replaced on the openside flank by Justin Tipuric.

But, having had three weeks to reflect on the trip, Howley remains convinced that he, and his fellow coaches, made the right choices.

He fully accepts and welcomes the fact that Welsh supporters will always have strong opinions on selection.

But he says it’s the job of a coach to make a cool-headed decision based on all the available information.

“When you have victory in your grasp and all of a sudden you lose, emotions run high and people react pretty harshly on the performances of players, coaches and the team,” said the former scrum-half.

“The great thing about Wales that I love, through my playing career as well as my coaching, is everyone has an opinion that is so different from one to the other.

“The reason they have an opinion is they care about the game. I talk to my mates and they argue about the best XV.

“It’s good to have that debate and I try to understand how the public see it.

“But, as a coach, you need to have all the information so you are able to make a fair judgement on selection.

“The process is always a long one because we go through every position.

“We have to look beyond what I call the Scrum V moments.

“From a supporters’ perspective, you see someone making a brilliant break and even though he hasn’t touched the ball for 50-odd minutes, all of a sudden he’s had an outstanding game because everyone remembers that break he’s made.

“Conversely a bad pass, a bad kick or a bad tackle is remembered.

“People watching the game in a pub, or in a relaxed mode at home, remember those highlights and then put a picture in their head.

“We look at everything. That’s hopefully why we are here.

“For example, people criticised Rhys Priestland for not holding on to Sam Warburton’s pass when we had a five-on-two in the first Test.

“But what no-one knew at the time was Rhys had taken a stamp on his elbow and couldn’t straighten his arm. So he couldn’t reach up to catch the ball and why he dropped it.

“They are things that happen in Test match football and these are the kinds of fine details we need to consider as coaches.”

Howley continued: “When you watch a game live, you only remember 38 per cent of it. “That’s what clinical evidence shows.

“We did a really good exercise as coaches out in South Africa in 2008.

“After the first Test, when we got blown away in Bloemfontein, we sat down and marked the players out of 10 for their performances. Then we went and looked at the game, once, twice, we came back and our marks changed so much.

“It was amazing. It was an exercise which we remind ourselves of now.

“As coaches, we have to consider every second of every minute.

“We don’t take selection lightly and I think we are fair.

“I stand by my selection absolutely and I like to think all the other coaches would as well.”

It was Scarlets play-maker Priestland who was the subject of the greatest public clamour for change, but Howley stood firmly by him Down Under and continues to do so now.

“Rhys has played a huge part in what Wales have achieved over the last 12 months,” he said.

“Everyone knows about his performances at the World Cup and he was exceptional in the second half of the Grand Slam game against France in terms of playing territory.

“Rhys knows in certain components of his game he wasn’t at his best in Australia and that overall his play wasn’t to the standard he achieved in the World Cup.

“But he has only been playing at 10 for Wales for 10 months

“You talk to Neil Jenkins about the criticism he had over a decade of playing there.

“Number 10 has always been a big focus in Wales and that will never change.

“Our overriding opinion throughout the Test series was that Rhys was our number one fly-half. And I still believe that to be the case.

“There are always going to be challenges for Rhys moving forward in his game.

“It will be interesting to watch the couple of months in September, October going into the autumn series.

“But, to my mind, he is still our number one fly-half.

“Is it right to be dropped if you play poorly in one game?”

As for Warburton, it’s clear that axing him from the team was never on the agenda Down Under.

“Everyone spoke about Justin Tipuric and how well he played in the Brumbies game, which he did. But no-one back home saw it,” said Howley.

“Justin will play many years for Wales. He is a fantastic player.

“But I never saw that question mark about Sam, regarding whether he should be dropped. I just didn’t see it.

“It didn’t enter my mind. Not at all. I didn’t think about making a change.

“Sam is an excellent captain and we won the Grand Slam with him at the helm.

“All of a sudden, after a couple of performances, people are calling for him to be dropped. I never saw that.

“Sam holds himself as an ultimate professional on and off the field.

“He hadn’t played for about three months going into the first Test.

“Hats off to him for getting through that game having not played for that period of time.”

As for the series as a whole, Howley is left reflecting on what might have been, with Wales having been in a position to win all three Tests.

“The first thing to say is it was an absorbing thrilling, series,” he said.

“It was edge-of-the-seat stuff.

“There were a lot of things we did well and we can take heart from getting close to Australia.

“But, as I said straight after the last Test, we aren’t hiding away from the 3-0 whitewash.

“I think Welsh rugby has hopefully come a long way, so we don’t want taps on the back when we’ve lost.

“We want the win. There were fine margins between the two sides, but huge consequences in terms of the result on the scoreboard.

“Ultimately, areas and components of our game that were strong in the Six Nations let us down.

“Maybe that’s through being away from home or one or two boys just losing their nerve or maybe being really enthusiastic in terms of trying to sort out problems on your own as opposed to as a side.

“At times, it was through our own lack of discipline and our own errors.

“I still believe we need to be more street-wise and more understanding of the referee.

“Above all, it’s about mastering that moment and holding your nerve when you go into the lead in the last 10 minutes of the game.

“You look back on those opportunities and it could have been so different.”

That was never more evident than during the pivotal second Test in Melbourne, where Wales were ahead and in possession with less than two minutes to go, only to lose to a last-second penalty after kicking away possession through Priestland and conceding two penalties.

“There were varying degrees of opinion within the camp about what we should and shouldn’t have done,” said Howley.

“Everyone had an opinion and the more senior you were the more of an opinion you had. The majority of players agreed with what Rhys had done in terms of kicking the ball. It was just what happened after that.

“The ball was 70-odd metres from our try line and all we needed to do was defend, which we had done so gallantly throughout the 80 minutes.

“But we made individual decisions through a lack of discipline which resulted in us giving penalties away.

“Looking back, the emotions are mainly disappointment and frustration at what might have been.

“I’ve never been in a situation where you’re winning when the hooter goes and you end up losing.

“I certainly didn’t think we deserved to lose that game. That was the galling aspect of it.

“It was pretty devastating, but I was proud of the players in the way they reacted and lifted themselves back up off the floor for the final Test, where we probably produced our best performance of the series.”

Looking ahead, Howley concluded: “This team is getting ready for the next World Cup in 2015 and with that in mind we have to learn from the experience in Australia.

“We’ve nailed the close games in the northern hemisphere, now we’ve got to do that against the southern hemisphere sides.

“And I’d like to think that will happen in the autumn series.”



Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/rugby-news/2012/07/20/rob-howley-on-australia-tour-i-wouldn-t-have-done-anything-differently-91466-31438808/#ixzz21IIlL1fo

It would seem doubtful, especially as he's still coaching Australia

Wink. Yes. Doubtful if he was.

But he is?

Hmmm. Indeed.

Who's Australia's backs coach? That's who we could really do with. He p!sses all over Rob Howley - metaphorically, of course. Unless they're both into that, which some people are.

Stop projecting Luckless!