Warren Gatland insists he should have been allowed to re-appoint Rob Howley as Wales attack coach after being prevented from doing so by senior Welsh Rugby Union figures.
Howley, who was banned for 18 months for breaching World Rugby's betting laws, was Gatland's preferred option as attack coach.
Howley was an integral part of Gatland's backroom team for the entirety of his first 12 years in charge of Wales with the pair winning four Six Nations titles, and reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 2011.
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But Gatland was blocked from giving Howley the job by the WRU's non-executive directors, with former England outside-half Alex King having been appointed instead.
"I’ve got a huge amount of respect for Rob as a rugby coach," said Gatland. "I suppose the information given to me was that the timing wasn’t right.
"But I’ve got to say I’m extremely lucky with Alex coming on board. I’ve worked with him before and I think hopefully he’ll fit in seamlessly to the backs role as a coach.
"I think he’ll add a lot. A lot of that stuff about Rob has been fairly well documented.
"I’m sure that given the opportunity I will get the chance to work with him again in the future."
The New Zealander insists the former Wales scrum-half still has plenty to offer as a top level coach. Gatland believes Howley should be forgiven for his past transgressions and allowed to coach Wales again in the future.
"Well, you’d like to think that if anyone was going to be forgiving it would be the Welsh forgiving their own," he said.
"It’s been over three years now but that’s not the case at the moment. Hopefully Rob will continue to be involved in rugby.
"He’s been involved with Canada and he’s had the backing of World Rugby who have been funding that position which is a real positive. I just think I’d like to see him involved at the highest possible level again in the future."
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