Pat Howard

This article is about the Australian rugby union player. For the English footballer, see Pat Howard (footballer). For the South African rugby union player, see Patrick Howard (rugby union).

Pat Howard
Rugby union career
Full name	Patrick William Howard
Date of birth	(1973-11-14) 14 November 1973
Place of birth	Sydney, Australia
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	90 kg (14 st 2 lb)
School	Marist College Ashgrove
University	University of Queensland
Notable relative(s)	Jake Howard (Father) Cyril Towers (Grandfather)
Playing career
Position	Centre, Fly-half
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1998–2001	Leicester Tigers ASM Clermont Auvergne
Super Rugby
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
	Reds Brumbies

National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1993–1997	Australia	20
Coaching career
Years	Club / team
2005–2007	Leicester Tigers

Patrick William Howard, usually known as Pat Howard or Paddy Howard (born 14 November 1973) is an ex-head coach at Leicester Tigers and a former Australian rugby union international who played centre or fly-half.

He was born in Sydney. His father Jake Howard played prop for Australia and his grandfather Cyril Towers also played centre for the Wallabies.

Early life

He attended Marist College Ashgrove, Brisbane where he played 1st XV Rugby. He started his career playing for the University of Queensland Football club. Studying pharmacy at the University he was a recipient of a prestgious University of Queensland Sporting Scholarships.

Playing career

Picked up by the Queensland Reds, before moving to the ACT Brumbies, he also played club football at Sydney University. Howard played 20 tests for Australia between 1993 and 1997, making his debut against New Zealand. In 1998 he signed for Leicester Tigers, displacing Will Greenwood, who was forced to return to Harlequins for first team rugby. Howard became a pivotal part of the Tigers' championship winning side. Howard started the victorious 2001 Heineken Cup Final for Leicester.^[1]

Rugby coaching career

After the departure of Joel Stransky in 2000, he was appointed as the Tigers' backs coach, however he had his sights set on regaining a Wallaby jersey ahead of the 2003 World Cup. He returned to the Brumbies in 2001, swapping his playing position with Rod Kafer, but was unable to make the squad for the World Cup. He then returned to Europe, playing for French side ASM Clermont Auvergne in 2003.

After retiring as a player at the end of the season in 2004, Howard returned to Leicester Tigers, once again becoming backs coach. In 2005 he was appointed as head coach succeeding John Wells.

He guided Tigers to the Guinness Premiership and EDF Energy Cup finals in 2007, winning the domestic double. They also made the final of the Heineken Cup but were denied an historic treble – succumbing to Wasps 25–9.

On 28 December 2006, he announced he would resign as coach of the Tigers at the end of the 2006/7 season.^[2] Marcelo Loffreda was named Howard's successor, who took up his new role after the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Howard returned to his native Australia to manage his family's pharmaceutical company, however quickly became general manager of the Australian Rugby Union's high performance unit.^[3]

Cricket management career

On 13 October 2011, he was announced as the GM, Team Performance – for the Australian Cricket Team.^[4] This role, created to focus solely on team performance, was one of the key recommendations of the Don Argus led Australian Team Performance Review (ATPR) adopted by CA’s Board in August.

Howard has received some criticism for this role. Shane Warne said in 2013, Cricket Australia should "please put current cricket people in charge to run the game,select teams, not ex rugby or any other sports people" and called Howard a "muppet".^[5]

In March 2013, following being temporarily dropped from the national team Shane Watson said Howard had not been involved in cricket long enough to pass comment on his commitment to the Australian team.^[6]

References

External links

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