Last updated on .From the section Welsh Rugby

Robert Howley won 59 Wales caps and two more for the British and Irish Lions at scrum-half between 1996 and 2002

Former Wales backs coach Rob Howley has been banned from rugby for 18 months, with nine suspended, for betting on matches, including Wales games.

The suspension is backdated to his withdrawal from Wales' World Cup campaign, on 16 September 2019.

The panel who judged Howley found that from 14 November, 2015 to 7 September, 2019 he put "363 bets on rugby union, featuring 1,163 matches in total".

Howley, 49, used his Welsh Rugby Union phone and email account to place bets.

The former Wales and British and Irish Lions scrum-half was sent home from Japan six days before Wales' opening win against Pool D opponents Georgia and replaced by Stephen Jones.

Warren Gatland went on to guide Wales to the tournament semi-finals before Jones joined new boss Wayne Pivac's staff.

Howley was part of Warren Gatland's backroom from the beginning of 2008 and he was scheduled to leave that role after the 2019 World Cup.

Instead his active role ended when he left the camp in Japan.

Howley lost £4,000

While the investigation was under way, Gatland said Howley had "been through hell" and WRU chairman Gareth Davies said they had been in regular contact with the former Wales captain.

Howley accepted the charges and can return to the sport on 16 June, 2020. The former Wales scrum-half has lost the opportunity to be the new Italy head coach.

World Rugby's regulation 6.3.1 reads: "No connected person shall, directly or indirectly, bet and/or attempt to bet on the outcome or any aspect of any connected event and/or receive and/or attempt to receive part or all of the proceeds of any such bet and/or any other benefit in relation to a bet."

Howley admitted to placing bets on 24 "connected events", which were games involving Wales or Wales players.

Howley's bets involved two on players, including one on who would be the first Wales try-scorer in the Grand Slam win over Ireland in Cardiff in March 2019.

The other occasion was betting that a named Wales player would be a try scorer in a particular international match.

Howley said neither player had any knowledge of the bets and the duo also said they had no knowledge of the events when interviewed by investigators. The stakes in each case were no more than a few pounds.

Over the five-year period investigated, the independent panel was satisfied he made no financial gains and lost £4,000.

Gatland, former British and Irish Lions coach Sir Ian McGeechan and Wales centre Jonathan Davies also provided character witness letters for Howley.

Family tragedy

The report stated Howley's betting was triggered by a family tragedy.

The report also said: "It is clear that Mr Howley's betting on rugby was part of a hobby of betting on sporting events.

"We use the word 'hobby' with some caution because it seems that a trigger for Mr Howley's betting activity was a family tragedy involving the death of his sister.

"While we are prepared to accept the trigger for Mr Howley's betting on sporting events has its seeds in personal family tragedy, it is much more difficult to understand why he chose to bet on rugby which he knew was prohibited rather than other sport exclusively, which of course was perfectly permissible."

The issue emerged after WRU policy and integrity manager Jeremy Rogers received information on 10 September from an employee of a gambling company Howley had placed bets on matches involving Welsh national teams.

Following a WRU investigation, Howley's case was heard in Cardiff by an independent panel, chaired by Sir Wyn Williams.

Mitigating factors for part of the ban being suspended included Howley's early acceptance of responsibility, making no gain from his betting, no suggestion of dishonesty or misuse of confidential information involved and the press intrusion upon the family which had occurred immediately after.

Howley also stated he has not placed any bets since September 2019 and was confident the help of a consultant psychologist would stop him from betting in the future.

The Sports Betting Intelligence Unit of the Gambling Commission has provided advice throughout the investigation.

Howley has 14 days to appeal against the decision from 11 December, 2019, the date of the judgement. external-link

World Rugby will not comment on the case until the appeal process has finished but it is understood the WRU has kept the global governing body informed during the process and have acted in line with their obligations under Regulation 6.