Rob Howley Q&A

Q: COACHES OFTEN TALK ABOUT PERFORMANCE BUT WAS IT ABOUT GETTING THE RESULT ON THIS OCCASION AND STOPPING THE LOSING RUN? A: I think it’s a bit of both, really. The players and coaches feel it’s been a tough week and we’ve turned round and won against a Rugby Championship side.

The press had spoken about how good Argentina are, about their off-loading game, how they play loose rugby, attractive rugby and I thought we were able to stop them. That’s what you need to do when you play against sides who’ve got a potent threat with the ball in hand. That was a really important point from us going into the game from a defensive aspect.

I thought the likes of Sam Warburton and Alun Wyn coming into the game and their ability to hold them up in the contact area and slow down their speed of ball gave us some good line speed and we were sometimes able to stop them at source as well.

There was a bit of frustration with the last ten minutes of the first half where we had about five or six penalties in that white zone. But we kept our composure and patience and we showed a clinical edge in the second half.

It’s important that you celebrate wins. It’s an international game against a good Argentine side and the players have delivered. They have been outstanding in their preparation. I can’t speak highly enough of the leadership group. The players put a shift in and they can be very proud and pleased with their victory. Q: CAN YOU SPEAK A BIT ABOUT ALUN WYN JONES TO PRODUCE A MAN OF THE MATCH PERFORMANCE LIKE THAT AFTER WHAT’S BEEN A TOUGH TIME FOR HIM PERSONALLY? A: He’s just a world-class player with an ability to bring players to another level. He’s a Test match animal and to have him and Sam Warburton back in the squad certainly raised our level of performance. After what he’s gone through in the last two weeks, what a player. Q: YOU HAD LIAM WILLIAMS BACK WELL AND HE JUST SEEMS TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT. A: I think it’s probably an x-factor, isn’t it. He has an ability to run the lines and he was unlucky a couple of times on the far side with the kicks. He has taken his try particularly well. He’s quick, he’s elusive. The back three worked well. We created opportunities in the wider channels. Q: YOU MADE A LOT OF CHANGES TO THE TEAM. HOW MUCH OF A RELIEF IS IT TO YOU THAT THEY CAME OFF? A: I was just pleased with the squad, it was a squad effort. With the 23 players that were selected, it was important we put some pride back into that national jersey. I will never question the attitude of our players. Last week, for whatever reason in that first half, we’ve never experienced that before. But in fairness to the players this week, they’ve rolled their sleeves up and we had good attitude, we were on edge. I think they deserve many accolades. Q: WAS IT A GAMBLE, A HARD DECISION TO MAKE THOSE CHANGES? A: We sat down as coaches and reflected on the performance against Australia and felt we needed to make changes. When you win, you dissect whether those changes are positive or not. I just want to talk about the squad really. Q: WHAT DID YOU THINK OF GETHIN JENKINS KICK TO THE CORNER THAT SET UP GARETH DAVIES’ TRY? A: We went in with a number of attacking kick options. But we never expected a loosehead prop to be put in an attacking kick. Q: WHAT ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE IN WORLD RANKING TERMS IN THAT IT PUTS YOU BACK ABOVE ARGENTINA? A: It’s about home wins. The world rankings will look after themselves. The games are going to swing right left and centre over the next few months. It’s all in a cluster between four and nine. To win against a side that is above us in the rankings is obviously important but more important is winning at home. It was key for us to do that today. Q|: WHAT WAS THE THINKING BEHIND ONLY MAKING TWO REPLACEMENTS? A: I think it shows that we felt in control of the game. It was quite a stop-start game, it wasn’t a highoctane game. We were able to stop Argentina. I don’t think they had a quick throw-in or a quick re-start. It was just the quick tap which they scored off. We were quite comfortable.

The ball in play time was 32 minutes.

We have been to 44. A lot of good is in the detail of the game and we were able to control field position compared to last week where we were forced to play because we were under pressure from the scoreboard. This week we were in control because the scoreboard was on our side. We played in the right areas. Q: WHAT WAS THE INJURY TO KEN OWENS? A: He gave a lovely ball to Dan Biggar through the hole and I think he was just taken a fraction late, but I think it’s just a mild dead shoulder, if you can have a dead shoulder? Q: DOES THE WIN IMPACT UPON YOUR THINKING OVER WHAT TO DO AGAINST JAPAN IN TERMS OF SELECTION OR IS THERE A SET PLAN? A: There’s no set-plan at all. We respect Japan. We watched a bit of their victory over Georgia this morning and the Argentina game last week. They are a very good side. They want to play a fast open game. So it’s important we respect them. We will make changes. We have got