Rob Howley goes into the final round of the Six Nations with his prospects of becoming Wales’s permanent head coach seemingly enhanced by a ringing endorsement from the Welsh Rugby Union.

It has been quite the turnaround for Howley, who has been Warren Gatland’s stand-in while the Kiwi has been on his British and Irish Lions sabbatical.

Following the back-to-back defeats by England and Scotland, Howley came under sustained attack on social media and in parts of the Welsh media. But the manner in which he stood up to the criticism and guided his team to a 22-9 victory against Ireland has been praised by WRU chairman Gareth Davies. And by the tone of Davies’s words, Howley must be considered the favourite to take the helm when Gatland steps down after the 2019 World Cup.

“Rob has coped really well,” Davies told Media Wales. “I wondered beforehand if he would struggle under the scrutiny and the attention, but he has demonstrated firmness and confidence in what he’s doing and that’s come over to the players. So fair dos to him, despite what’s been going on, he’s really come through.”