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Rob Howley has demanded a bigger impact from Wales’ substitutes against Scotland during their must-win Six Nations encounter at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The Wales caretaker coach, in his first interview since carrying out an in-depth debrief in the wake of the 21-16 defeat to England, didn’t mince his words.

Howley was panned by pundits and the Welsh public after his decision to send on Taulupe Faletau for the on-song Ross Moriarty, Gareth Davies for scrum-half orchestrator Rhys Webb, and Scott Baldwin for rampaging hooker Ken Owens backfired spectacularly as Wales threw away the lead in the dying minutes.

But he defended the controversial changes, saying: “We were disappointed with the impact of our bench against England.

“As a coaching team when we looked at making those changes, bearing in mind we were off a six-day turnaround against Italy, we asked all our players to empty the tank.

“When you make changes you expect impact. We made changes and went from 13-11 to 16-11 with England under the pump with James Haskell giving a penalty away.

“Eddie Jones (England coach) had emptied their bench and we needed fresh legs on. We felt that we were making the right decisions and will have to make those decisions again this weekend.

“It’s an area that we have talked about and we are looking for a better impact this week. We feel that we’ve got a strong bench and need to develop competition.

“Players coming on have to make a better impact than they did against England,” stressed Howley.

(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)

The former Wales captain claimed data which the coaches are able to assess during matches had shown Moriarty was beginning to tire.

“He has shown deft skill, great work-rate and emptied the tank against England if you look at the GPS data,” insisted Howley, before adding: “There is more growth in Ross and another level in him.”

He believes the challenge of Moriarty will spur Faletau, who is again on the bench, on to new heights.

“Any player will tell you that they want to be put under pressure and they want competition for places,” said Howley.

“I’m sure it will drive Toby on. He hasn’t missed many games and has been a constant in the national team.

“He will be a constant in the 23 for the future and has a huge challenge with Ross, who is playing out of position, because he’s a six, but was outstanding against England and deserves to start in Scotland.

“We’ve got four world class back-rows there and it is genuinely a great headache to have, to have a world class player on the bench.

“You learn off the best as players and coaches and you look at the All Blacks in particular when they go to the bench on 50/55 minutes and make a difference.

“That’s what didn’t happen against England and hopefully it will be different at Murrayfield.”