Gatland fell off a ladder at his Waihi Beach house on Monday, but is expected to recover in time to lead his RBS 6 Nations Grand-Slam winning squad on a three game tour to Australia in June.

Assistant Coach Robert Howley will take charge of preparations in a caretaker role and liaise with Gatland, whose return to Wales is delayed while he awaits surgery to reconstruct his right heel in Waikato.

The WRU maintain Gatland will be available to take charge of the series against the Wallabies unless his recovery is delayed.

"The injury he suffered is not expected to have any major impact on the continuing preparations for scheduled Wales matches in June 2012," chief executive Roger Lewis said.

“While in New Zealand, Gatland will continue to receive information primarily from Rob Howley, Robin McBryde, Shaun Edwards and Neil Jenkins as they observe and monitor squad players and potential players over the next few weeks.

"We all wish Warren a speedy recovery from the injuries he has suffered in this extremely unfortunate accident.

"I have spoken to Warren on a number of occasions since his fall and have told him he will lead the tour to Australia unless anything unforeseen happens in the prognosis for recovery we are working to."

Gatland was cleaning windows when he fell onto concrete taking the full force of the landing on his heels and he could have his legs in casts for a considerable time.

Mr Lewis added: “Knowing Warren as I do, I can reassure the Welsh rugby public that he has diligently put the people and processes in place to ensure he stays closely linked to what is happening in the game back here in Wales.”