Doug Howlett - Munster

Munster

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. 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 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. 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. 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.

On 24 February 2012, Munster Rugby announced that Howlett had extended his contract until the end of the 2012-13 season.On 24th August 2012, it was announced that Howlett would be taking over from Paul O'Connell as the Munster squad captain for the 2012-13 season.