HOWLEY LINKED WITH RETURN TO RUGBY
Just one month until the end of his betting ban...
FORMER Wales coach Rob Howley has been linked to a possible return to rugby with Gloucester. The 49-year-old is serving a ban for placing bets on more than 1,000 rugby matches over four years in breach of the game’s regulations.
His suspension ends next month on June 16 and Gloucestershire Live report he could be in contention for the top job at Kingsholm.
There’s a vacancy at the Gallagher Premiership outfit, with Gloucester confirming on Friday that head coach Johan Ackermann was departing to take charge of
Japanese club NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes.
And Howley’s name has been mentioned as a potential replacement for the South African.
Howley’s role as attack coach with Wales under Warren Gatland ended when he was sent home from the World Cup in September 2019 pending an investigation into his betting activities.
An independent Welsh Rugby Union disciplinary panel found
Howley had made 363 bets covering 1,163 matches over four years.
He was banned for 18 months, with nine months suspended, with the penalty backdated to 16 September.
Howley apologised later for breaching betting rules saying he “battled demons” in the wake of his sister’s death.
Howley isn’t the only Welsh name linked with the job, with his former international team-mate Dai Young being mentioned, having left Wasps earlier this year.
Other names include former England coach Stuart Lancaster and current Gloucester skills coach Rory Teague.
In an email to supporters, Gloucester’s chief executive Lance Bradley confirmed that the club have known about Ackermann’s plans for a “little while” and that a shortlist of potential candidates has been drawn up. The club will now start approaching candidates.
Bradley said: “As we have known about Johan’s plans for a little while, David Humphreys has drawn up a shortlist of potential candidates, and now that things are finalised between Johan and the Red Hurricanes we can start the process of approaching our potential candidates.”