Gatland: Sent-home Howley has been left 'devastated' by betting allegations
Wales boss Warren Gatland has revealed his sense of shock after Rob Howley was sent home from the World Cup for an alleged breach of World Rugby’s betting and anti-corruption regulations. The Wales head coach said his assistant coach was left “devastated” by the allegations.
Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Martyn Phillips revealed that he was first made aware of matters last Wednesday, which was Wales’ World Cup departure day to Japan.
The WRU said that 48-year-old former Wales captain Howley had returned to Wales to assist with an investigation in relation to a potential breach of World Rugby regulation six, specifically betting on rugby union. He has been part of Gatland’s highly-successful coaching team since 2008 and is now back in Wales.
Former Wales flyhalf Stephen Jones, who was due to succeed Howley as attack specialist after the tournament, will join the squad on Thursday ahead of a World Cup opener against Georgia in Toyota City.
“We were shocked,” Gatland said at Wales’ squad base in Kitakyushu. “At the moment, these are allegations. Obviously, Rob was devastated by the allegations. That’s all I can say.
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“The Union are dealing with this, and my focus has to be on the next five days in terms of preparing the squad for the first game against Georgia. You have to deal with adversity at times, and it’s how you respond and react to that. This has happened.
“I must say that the players in the last 24 hours have really stepped up and they have been incredibly responsible and resilient, and sometimes that brings teams closer together. We have got to draw a line in the sand on this and really focus on preparing the team for the next five days.
“We got a shock the other day, like I said, and it took a bit of time for it to sink in. We can’t say anything that potentially jeopardises the investigation, and we are pretty aware of that. There was concern by the coaches and the players about Rob and the welfare of Rob. Yesterday was my birthday, yes. I have had better birthdays for sure! It’s all part of the life experience.”
Sent home from Japan, it appears as if Rob Howley's coaching career is in tatters following an alleged betting rules breachhttps://t.co/4M27IQrj1P
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 17, 2019
Asked if he had spoken to Howley, Gatland added: “I did text him to say I hope you got home okay, and to see how he was doing.”
If found guilty, Howley could face the maximum sanction of a life ban from the sport, with betting on any rugby game outlawed for the likes of players, coaches and match officials, among others. He is provisionally suspended from any rugby-related activity, pending an investigation the WRU will lead.
Revealing a timeline, Phillips said: “We were contacted on Wednesday of last week informally to suggest there was a potential breach of regulation six. We were then contacted formally with further information on Friday evening. We took Saturday to digest that information.
“It’s a pretty serious allegation, and we needed to be confident in our actions if we were going to do anything. That was important. Clearly, we are on the eve of the World Cup – the biggest tournament we play in – so that was a factor. But, equally, we were very conscious that we needed to act quickly and be decisive. That’s exactly what we’ve done.”
Phillips said the initial approach came from a betting company’s integrity team, not World Rugby. He added: “These are serious allegations, there is a lot to cover, people to speak to, data to look at. I wouldn’t put any pressure on anyone to do things quickly – I will be putting pressure on them to do it right.
“We are so early on. The investigation hasn’t started. We are here, Rob is back in Wales. We will start to get under the bonnet of it now. When we start, we will get a sense of how long it’s going to take. Rob is back in Wales, and we have put the necessary support around him.
“Several of the coaches are in touch with him and we’re checking in on his well-being as we formalise our processes to get through the investigation.”
– Press Association
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Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
17 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
17 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
7 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
7 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
17 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
17 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
7 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
17 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
17 Go to comments