British Lions: Rob Howley claims Lions success will give young Wales team ...

Rob Howley believes having claimed a southern hemisphere scalp will give the Welsh Lions the confidence to do the same with Wales.

Howley feels the triumph over Australia

can help the Six Nations champions go up to another level and finally beat one of the big three.

Wales provided 10 of the starting line-up for Saturday’s series-clinching demolition of the Wallabies and those players took key roles in the 41-16 romp in Sydney.

Howley believes having got over the line with the Lions will give the Welsh players a huge psychological lift when they next take on a southern hemisphere side.

They face South Africa and Australia at the Millennium Stadium this autumn

and will go into those games full of self-belief following their success Down Under.

“From a Welsh perspective, we have been there so many times and been so close and yet so far away,” said attack coach Howley.

“I have got no doubt when they take on the southern hemisphere guys again, these Lions can go there knowing they’ve beaten them and by the magnitude that we’ve beaten them over the last three weeks.

“It has got us over the line and the manner of the win on Saturday, putting 41 points on Australia and scoring four tries to one, just shows we can do it.”

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In all, 15 Welsh players were selected for the Lions tour Down Under, the greatest number since 1977.

“All of them have been outstanding,” said Howley.

“A lot of the players that went on the tour enhanced their reputations,

“I thought it was a special moment for Jon Davies against New South Wales. That was a stand-out performance and he continued to do that throughout the tour.

“Alun Wyn Jones keeps delivering those performances at the level he does. His fitness and engine and hard work in attack and defence was outstanding,

“Then you have got the Man of the Series, Leigh Halfpenny. He doesn’t miss does he?”

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Howley continued: “You have seen this group of players come through over the last three or four years.

“The one thing we are very fortunate is they are very young group of players.

“They have been together with us for a long time but I’m sure there’s another four or five years in them.

“That’s an  exciting prospect for us in Wales and I think we can build on it.

“It’s difficult winning a Lions Test series. That’s shown by the fact it hadn’t been done for 16 years.

“We have had a fair high proportion of Welsh players involved in doing it and that’s even better.”

The Lions were beaten twice Down Under, by the Brumbies and in the second Test at the hands of the Wallabies, but produced the perfect finish to seal a 2-1 series victory last Saturday.

“It’s just been an incredible journey over the last eight weeks,” said Howley.

“On a journey of that length there’s going to be highs and lows.

“On Lions tours, sometimes you’ve got momentum and sometimes you lose momentum.

“We lost the momentum twice and it was down to the character of the players and the   unity and cohesion we had within the group that we got that back when it mattered most.

“There was no better place to get that back than that third Test on Saturday. It was shown in abundance.

“There had been a little bit of frustration and disappointment in terms of how we performed with and without the ball in the  first two Tests.

“But that was all put to bed in that final third Test.

“The one thing that Australia struggled to do in that game was cope with our physicality.

“I thought our mentality in terms of our performance reminded me a little bit of the Wales-England game back in March.

“Having conceded a try just before half-time and then an easy six points after the break, we were asking the players to go again and get to another level and we did that.

“That was the most pleasing aspect really.

“We put ourselves in an arm wrestle again and were able to go to another level and one that Australia couldn’t cope with.

“We were so chuffed in terms of the way it was finished, particularly the final half hour.

“It was nice to enjoy watching a game of rugby for the last 10 minutes knowing you’ve won the game.

“You don’t often get that when you are playing against southern hemisphere sides.

“The number of points we had on the scoreboard meant we were able to savour and enjoy that last 10 minutes and that was a special moment within the coaching group.

“That performance on Saturday evening and the atmosphere inside the stadium, the players will never forget that for the rest of their lives.

“They’ve created history.”

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The success was also vindication for the coaching team headed up by Warren Gatland, who had received heavy criticism for his team selection for the series decider.

“That’s the nature of the job,” said Howley.

“Obviously last week was a tough week for many, many reasons and going into that third Test it was everything to play for.

“We believed in the team we selected.

“We probably didn’t realise the effect that would have throughout world rugby.

“But we stuck by particular decisions in terms of being technically and tactically better in that third Test and thankfully it turned out that way.

“Gats deserves all the credits because having worked with him, I’ve seen his stewardship, how savvy, how clever he is and selection is a big part of that.

“At the time, when we were selecting a group of players to go out and play in the third Test we felt we got the selection right.

“Changes were made for technical and tactical areas that we needed to improve on from that second Test and we needed to show Australia a little bit more than we had done in those first two Tests.”

Focus on Rugby: What will the Lions success mean for Wales?

 

Ask Howley to rank the 2013 Lions triumph in terms of his personal career highlights and there is no hesitation over his reply.

“It’s number one, its got to be,” said the former Wales skipper.

“I’ve been fortunate to be involved in a few Lions tours.

“To be part of this one until the dying end, part of a coaching team with an outstanding group of players and to be part of a series victory is very special.

“It’s been an incredible journey and one I’ll savour for the rest of my life.

“History has shown that Lions Test series aren’t won that easily.

“It’s the first time it’s happened in 16 years and the players can now group themselves with the sides of ‘71, ‘74, ‘89 and 1997.

“I am sure they will enjoy every moment of that and the players deserve all the accolades. They’ve been an outstanding group.

“A lot of hard work has gone into it and the last four days have been pretty special.

“When your achievement is of this magnitude, it will take time to sink in.

“It doesn’t sink in overnight and that probably makes it even better.

“In time, you will look back and think what a great eight weeks.

“It’s just been a fantastic time.

“We’ve enjoyed the company, we’ve drunk a few beers and it’s great to have the job  done.”

Head coach Gatland has confirmed he would consider continuing in his role for the tour of his native New Zealand in 2017 and his assistant Howley feels the same.

“As a player, as a supporter, as a coach, once you’ve experienced a Lions tour you want to go on another one and I am no different,” he said.

“The supporters have been absolutely fantastic and I’ve got no doubt they’ve started saving for New Zealand already!”

 

Article source: http://www.express.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/413842/Quins-snap-up-Kennedy

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British Lions: Rob Howley claims Lions success will give young Wales team ...