| Full name | Douglas Charles Howlett | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 21 September 1978 | ||
| Place of birth | Auckland, New Zealand | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Weight | 93 kg (14 st 9 lb) | ||
| School | Auckland Grammar School | ||
| Occupation(s) | Professional rugby player | ||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Playing career | |||
| Position | Wing, Fullback | ||
| New Zealand No. | 992 | ||
| Provincial/State sides | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| 1998–2007 2008–present |
Auckland Munster |
56 94 |
(250) (160) |
| correct as of 04 Dec 2011. | |||
| Super Rugby | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| 1997 1998 1999–2007 |
Highlanders Hurricanes Blues |
2 5 108 |
(15) (5) (295) |
| correct as of 24 Sep 2011. | |||
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| 2000–2007 | New Zealand | 62 | (245) |
| correct as of 8 September 2007. | |||
Douglas Charles Howlett (born 21 September 1978) is a professional New Zealand rugby union player of Tongan descent. He is primarily a wing but he has also covered fullback at national and international levels. He currently plays in Ireland with Munster. He is the brother of former Tongan rugby league international Phil.[1] With an outstanding 49 tries in 62 tests, Howlett is currently the 5th-highest try scorer in Rugby Union history and 1st on the all time highest try scorers for the All Blacks.
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Born 21 September 1978 in Auckland, Howlett attended May Road School, and Mt Roskill Intermediate School. He started playing rugby at Auckland Grammar School, where he was also a star sprinter, captain of athletics and, during his final year in 1996, Head Prefect. He calls upon his speed as a sprinter (he once clocked a personal best 10.68 seconds for the 100 metres in an under 20 athletics championship in 1998) to great effect in his rugby career.
Howlett made his first-class debut at the age of 18 for Auckland in the NPC. He has played with 3 Super 14 teams, the Highlanders, the Hurricanes and the Blues. It was at hometown club the Blues he set established himself as one of the finest back players in the world.
As with other All Black players, Howlett has been courted by Northern Hemisphere clubs looking for a star signing in the aftermath of the Rugby World Cup. On 30 August 2007 Howlett signed for Munster, following in the footsteps of that other All Black great, Christian Cullen, who commonly wore No. 22 for the province. Howlett joined Munster at the start of 2008.
He made his debut for Munster in the Heineken Cup against Clermont Auvergne, notably starting the movement for Lifeimi Mafi's try. His second match came against London Wasps where he notably dived to save the ball in the build up to Denis Leamy's try. He scored his first Munster try against Ulster on 22 March 2008.
On 24 May 2008, Howlett was part of the Munster team that beat Toulouse 16–13 to win the 2008 Heineken European Cup.[2] Howlett had won his first cup with Munster only five and a half months into his career in the Northern Hemisphere. Howlett himself scored a try in the final only for it to be disallowed due to a forward pass from Rua Tipoki.
Howlett joins Rod Kafer as the only the second player to have won the major rugby tournaments in the Southern and Northern hemisphere, the Super 14 and Heineken Cup. He enjoyed his success with the Auckland Blues in the 2003 Super 12 and Munster in 2008. With Munster winning the Magners League title for the 08–09 season, Howlett now holds both a Heineken Cup and Magners League medal in the space of just two seasons with Munster. On the 26 February 2010 it was announced Howlett had signed a contract to stay on at Munster until the end of the 2010/2011 season, with the option for a further year.[3] That option was confirmed by Munster in February 2011, and he will stay with Munster until the end of the 2011/2012 season at least.[4][5] In December 2011, Howlett picked up an achilles injury in a RaboDirect PRO12 game against Ospreys which ruled him out for the rest of the season.[6][7]
Doug debuted for the All Blacks on 16 June 2000. Since then, he has scored on average 4 points per game (155 from his first 38). He was also a first choice winger in the 2003 World Cup.
Howlett has scored 49 tries for the All Blacks, a team record.[8] His hat-trick against Italy on 8 September 2007, at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, brought him level with the record of Christian Cullen, the All Blacks' previous leading try scorer and then his try in the 15th minute against Scotland on 23 September gave him the record.
He was selected for the Rugby World Cup squad ahead of Canterbury and Tasman player Rico Gear; however, he was expected to play the first three rounds of the 2007 Air New Zealand Cup. He scored a hat trick in Auckland's victory over Counties Manukau in the first round, and on 11 August against Waikato he scored two, bringing his try total for Auckland to 50. Howlett is known as a winger with a high work rate and strong defensive tackling ability.
In May 2009 Howlett was named in the Barbarians squad to play England and Australia.[9]
On 22 February 2007 Howlett launched "The Doug Howlett Outreach Foundation" which is aimed at New Zealand children between the ages of 8 and 14 who demonstrate ability academically as well as on the sports field or court initially, in the codes of rugby union, rugby league, and netball. Specifically it will assist with school fees, school books, sports fees and sports shoes or boots.
Howlett was arrested on 9 October 2007 outside Heathrow Airport's Hilton Hotel on suspicion of criminal damage on two cars.[10] This was following the All Blacks loss in Cardiff to France a few days earlier, a game which Howlett did not play in despite being in form throughout the Rugby World Cup tournament. Howlett subsequently issued an apology through the media.[11]
He was again arrested on 23 December 2010 on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly after his team's Christmas party in Kilkenny city.[12]
He was never charged by the Police in Ireland, which lead to questions about what happened on the night. These were answered in August 2011 when The Irish Sun newspaper printed an apology to Howlett. In their apology they admitted numerous factual errors in their reporting on the incident in which he was arrested and admitted that it was another person and not Doug Howlett involved with the incident in which a Munster fan was injured. Doug Howlett is the patron of his own charity and it is believed that The Irish Sun made a contribution to this charity in compensation to Doug.
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