Caretaker coach Howley will lead Wales for the opening two internationals against Argentina and Samoa, with permanent boss Gatland rejoining the fold for the final two encounters with New Zealand and Australia.
Howley was in the hot seat when Wales headed Down Under for the summer tour and Warburton insists the switch has been almost seamless given the work ethic built up within the camp and the respect the players have for both men.
“Rob’s been great,” Warburton told Sky Sports News as he and his team-mates get ready to fly out to a training camp in Poland this weekend.
“We had him in charge on the summer tour of Australia as Warren’s had his injury to his ankle.
“The environment that we’ve created stayed the same in training. Rob gets on with all the players; he’s a great coach and I think I speak on behalf of all the players when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed working with him.
“All the players are happy and it shouldn’t disrupt us too much.
“Warren’s been a massive influence on me and the other players but I think we’re going to have a successful campaign.”
Hard work will once again be at the heart of that potential success and Warburton is under no illusions as to the size of the challenge facing the Grand Slam Champions throughout November and into December.
The All Blacks haven’t lost since August 2011, the Wallabies have beaten Wales five times in the last 12 months, Samoa were tough opposition at the last World Cup, and Argentina are an even better side now that they’ve been admitted to the southern hemisphere’s top table.
“It’s a massively challenging autumn campaign but one the players are really looking forward to,” added Warburton.
“The great thing about the autumn is that you have four home games on the bounce. They’re week after week and all at the Millennium Stadium, which the players love.
“It’s a pretty tough campaign because they’re consecutive games, one week after another, so physically it’s very demanding.
“With Argentina’s involvement in the Rugby Championship their standard of rugby will just go through the roof over the next few years with the intensity of rugby they’re experiencing.
“Samoa are probably the most physical side I’ve played against and then New Zealand and Australia speak for themselves.”
Warburton demonstrated his own physical toughness last weekend when he took to the field against Toulon a week after suffering a nasty dislocation of his finger up in Sale.
The 24-year-old received plenty of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ when he tweeted a picture of the initial injury but he was back in training in double quick time as he made light of the situation.
“The finger’s fine now. It was dislocated behind and to the side so it was quite nasty. The x-ray showed that it was just completely out of its joint but I was training within two days – strap it up and carry on!
“The doctor tried initially to put it in pitch side because normally they put a bit of tape around it and you carry on playing.
“But in the end it took four doctors to get it back in. I had one doctor holding my wrist, one holding the bottom part of my finger and another big fella pulling the top of it.
“Luckily, I was on some gas and air to get me through it!”
