Candid in Cork

Doug Howlett, 30, who is based in Cork having signed with Munster in 2008, is profiled in the Irish Times which discusses the Northern Hemisphere team, his family and whether he’ll return to New Zealand when his contract ends mid-2010. It must have been a change coming here after having such celebrity status back home asks reporter Gráinne Faller. Howlett grimaces slightly. “When you become an All Black, nothing changes, you know? It’s everybody else that changes,” he says. “I just kept doing what I’d been doing since I was a kid, but because they’re such a followed team, everyone knows how you performed at the weekend and it’s documented in the news. You lose a little bit of privacy, but that’s sort of the way with any sport, really.” Life after rugby is inevitably on his mind. He has already set up the Doug Howlett Outreach Foundation, which aims to help underprivileged children who show promise in rugby or netball to achieve their potential.