By Rob Cole
Lynn Howells won’t be reconsidering his position as Romanian coach even after the Oaks squeezed into the World Cup finals, but he does want to carry on coaching.
Howells and his coaching staff stepped down after nearly seven years in charge, and a 70% success record, in the wake of his side’s 62-12 win over Belgium with one round of the Rugby Europe Championship campaign to go.
A first defeat to Spain in his reign, 22-10, meant the Spaniards merely had to beat the Belgians to take the automatic World Cup qualifying place. It seemed a formality and would have left Romania to scrap it out in the play-offs for a back door ticket to Japan next year.
But the Belgians then upset the odds in a game that was filled with controversy to beat the Spaniards and gift Romania a passage into Pool 1 alongside host nation Japan, Grand Slam winners Ireland and Scotland. They will also now have the honour of playing in the opening match against the Japanese at Tokyo Stadium on 20 September, 2019.
Spanish players angrily confronted the Romania referee at the end of their 18-10 defeat in Brussels last weekend. Their World Cup dreams are not over, but they now have to face Portugal, with the winners meeting Samoa in a two-legged tie for one of the final places in Japan.
“It’s nice that Romania have made it by right, although the scenes we witnessed at the end of the game between Belgium and Spain have no place in rugby,” said the 67-year-old Howells.
“It means Romania will have the honour of opening the World Cup against Japan, but it won’t be with me in charge. I stepped down for a number of reasons, but the fact we had lost to Germany last year and Spain this year meant things weren’t going as well as perhaps they should have been,
“The standard of rugby in the European tournament is improving, but so much depends on whether or not the teams get their best players out on the pitch. The Belgians were a completely different side against Spain than when they played us.
“They and 16 players back from France and were a much stronger outfit. I really enjoyed my time with Bucharesti and the Romanian national side and I’m proud of a lot of what we achieved in my time there.
“Someone told me the other day I had a 70% success rate with 49 wins out of 70 games. That’s not too shabby, and I’ve delivered them into another World Cup, but now is the time for someone else to take them on and try to push them even further forward.”
Now back home in the Rhondda, where he started his coaching career with Pontypridd 27 years ago, Howells has no thoughts of giving up coaching. He is keen to carry on at as high a level as possible.
With teams such as Pontypridd, Cardiff, Celtic Warriors, Edinburgh, Leonessa, Doncaster Knights and Bucharesti on his professional CV, as well as stints with Wales A, Wales and Romania, he has a wealth of knowledge and expertise.
“I love rugby and I love coaching. I don’t want to stop now and I’ll be looking round to see if there is something I can do,” said Howells.