Douglas Charles Howlett (born 21 September 1978) is a retired New Zealand professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He was primarily a

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

, but he also sometimes played as a fullback. He played for

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, and the Highlanders,

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and

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

. He finished his career with

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

in Ireland. With 49 tries in 62 tests, Howlett is currently the seventh-highest try scorer in rugby union history and the top try scorer for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Early life

Born in

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, 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 10.94 seconds for the 100 metres in an under 20 athletics championship in 1998) to great effect in his rugby career.

Playing career

Howlett made his first-class debut at the age of 18 for

in the Air New Zealand Cup. He has played with three

teams, briefly with the Otago Highlanders and Wellington Hurricanes and, for the majority of his career in his home city, the Auckland Blues. It was with his hometown Blues that he established himself as one of the finest back players in the world, winning a Super 12 title in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. Throughout his domestic career, he remained affiliated with Auckland in the Air New Zealand Cup, with more than 50 appearances for the union.

Barbarians

In May 2009, Howlett was named in the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

squad to play England and Australia.

Munster

On 30 August 2007, Howlett signed for

, following in the footsteps of another All Black great, Christian Cullen. Howlett joined Munster at the start of 2008. He made his debut for Munster in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

against ASM 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 Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

on 22 March 2008. On 24 May 2008, Howlett was part of the Munster team that beat

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

16–13 to win the 2007–08 Heineken Cup. 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 and Brad Thorn in having won major rugby tournaments in both the southern and northern hemispheres, the Super 14 and

respectively. He enjoyed his success with the Auckland Blues in the 2003

Super Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter/player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard butto ...

12 and

in 2008. With Munster winning the Magners League title for the 08–09 season, Howlett held both a Heineken Cup and Magners League medal in the space of just two seasons with Munster. On 26 February 2010 it was announced Howlett had signed a contract to stay on at Munster until the end of the 2010–11 season, with the option for a further year. That option was confirmed by Munster in February 2011, and he began the 2011/2012. But in December 2011, Howlett picked up an

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

injury in a Pro 12 game against Ospreys which ruled him out for the rest of the season. On 24 February 2012, Munster announced that Howlett had extended his contract until the end of the 2012–13 season. On 24 August 2012, it was announced that Howlett would take over from Paul O'Connell as the Munster squad captain for the 2012–13 season. He underwent successful knee surgery in late January 2013, and returned to action after the surgery on 2 March 2013. On 14 May 2013, it was confirmed that Howlett, after receiving medical advice, would retire from rugby due to a shoulder injury he sustained playing against

Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...

in March 2013. Howlett returned to the province as a corporate ambassador in December 2013. He went on to become Munster's head of commercial and marketing, before returning to New Zealand in the autumn of 2019.

International

Howlett debuted for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

on 16 June 2000. In his career, he 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 scored 49 tries for the All Blacks, a team record. His hat-trick against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 8 September 2007, at the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

, 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 The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

he scored two, bringing his try total for Auckland to 50. Howlett was known as a winger with a high work rate and strong defensive tackling ability.

Personal

Howlett is the brother of former Tongan rugby league international Phil Howlett. On 22 February 2007 Howlett launched "The Doug Howlett Outreach Foundation" to support New Zealand children between the ages of 8 and 14 who demonstrated academic and sporting ability, initially in the codes of

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

, and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

. It was intended to assist with school and sports fees and sporting equipment. Scholarships and equipment were distributed in 2007 and 2008. The Foundation website is now offline and it appears defunct. In May 2019, Howlett announced his decision to leave his role as Munster Rugby's Head of Commercial and Marketing after 6 years to return to New Zealand with his family.

Controversies

Howlett was arrested on 9 October 2007 outside Heathrow Airport's Hilton Hotel on suspicion of criminal damage to two cars. This followed the All Blacks'

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

loss in Cardiff to France a few days earlier, a game in which Howlett did not play. Howlett subsequently issued an apology through the media. He was again arrested on 23 December 2010 on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly after his team's Christmas party in Kilkenny city.

Honours

Blues * Super Rugby Title:

(1) Auckland * Ranfurly Shield Holder * National Provincial Championship: 1996,1999,2002,2003,2005,2007 (6)

Munster

* European Champions Cup: 2007–08 (1) * Celtic League: 2008–09, 2010–11 (2)

New Zealand

* Rugby Championship:

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

(5)

References

External links

*
Official site (Archived)

Munster Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howlett, Doug 1978 births New Zealand international rugby union players Living people New Zealand rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Munster Rugby players Munster Rugby non-playing staff Munster Rugby captains Auckland rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent People educated at Auckland Grammar School New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Ireland 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Highlanders (rugby union) players