Wales begin their autumn series against Australia on Saturday with Rob Howley in temporary charge. Warren Gatland has been far from the action – busy helping sell Lions shirts in Edinburgh- and Graham Thomas argues it should stay that way.
One of the most frequently stated – and inaccurate – facts about Warren Gatland is that he has won three Six Nations titles with Wales.
He hasn’t. He has won two. There were the Grand Slam triumphs of 2008 and 2012, but the winning of the championship in 2013 was done under the watch of Rob Howley.
Gatland was there, of course, which is why the success is often wrongly ascribed to him. But he was only around because the Lions allowed him to return to his suspended role ahead of the final match of the tournament and because Howley felt obliged to agree to it.
Four years on and Gatland is again on a year’s sabbatical with the Lions. Howley is once more at the helm for Wales.
The difference this time, though, is that if Howley has a sticky autumn series – as he did in 2012 – there will be no urging from the WRU for the permanent coach to drift back to Cardiff and sprinkle some of his magic dust.
They’re unsure whether it still has its magical properties, for one thing, and even if it does, they have decided this should be Howley’s solo gig for the season – for better or worse.
That’s how it should be. Howley is either in complete charge – starting with Saturday’s Test against Australia in Cardiff – or he is not.
After all, if the former scrum-half is going to take over from Gatland in 2019 – as has been urged by Gareth Thomas this week – then dry runs like this season should be done without the New Zealander sticking his oar in.
Still, that didn’t stop Gatland reeling off the names of a couple of Wales captaincy candidates this week when he was asked who might take over from the injured Sam Warburton.
It was a strange intervention into something that doesn’t concern him for the next 12 months or so. An answer that might have given his assistant more authority would have been, “It’s not up to me. Ask Rob Howley.”
Either way, the game against the Wallabies is Howley’s first big opportunity of the season to prove he is not standing in Gatland’s shadow.
Injuries may have forced him to be less radical in his team selection than he might have been, but Howley has a chance to put his stamp on things by doing something Gatland hasn’t managed for eight years – gaining a victory over Australia.
Wales have come close, but the long sequence of narrow defeats are losses in the defeats column for Gatland, not Howley. He was steering the ship, just as Howley was through a winless November 2012.
There’s another reason why Howley should be given plenty of rope throughout this season – and not just in order to hang himself.
The Lions will be odds-on to lose their series against New Zealand next summer, even though Gatland guided them to a series victory in Australia four years ago.
The last Wales coach to take charge of a losing Lions squad was Graham Henry in 2001. He also had a long term contract to return to with Wales, just as Gatland has. Within five months he was gone.
Howley’s succession to Gatland – carefully planned by some to occur after the World Cup in 2019 – could happen a lot sooner. Better that he gets some hours flying solo under his belt while he can.