Williams hoping to emulate Howlett

SHANE WILLIAMS has won almost every major honour in the game over the last 12 months but the wing wizard still has one burning ambition left to achieve in club rugby — to join idol Doug Howlett and win the Heineken Cup.

In a sensational 2008, Williams helped the Ospreys win the EDF Energy Cup and picked up three major individual awards — IRB World Player of the Year, Welsh Sports Personality of the Year and British Rugby Writers Player of the Year to add to two previous Magners League titles and two Grand Slams with Wales.

Now the Ospreys ace is hell-bent on emulating wing great and All Black star Howlett by claiming European rugby’s top prize.

Williams, 32, said: “Doug won the Heineken Cup last year and I would love to join him by getting a winner’s medal.

“But it’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s an extremely tough competition and we’ve found that out over the past few seasons.

“We worked so hard in Europe but we’ve had a lot of disappointments along the way and always seem to fall at the last hurdle. But winning the Heineken Cup is something I would love to do with the Ospreys.

“The potential is there to be a great side.”

Howlett only arrived in Limerick last January but stood on the winner’s podium within five months at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff when the Kiwi starred in a final 16-13 triumph for the Red Army over Toulouse.

In doing so, he became only the second player — after Rod Kafer — to win major rugby competitions in both the northern and southern hemisphere following his Super 14 success with Auckland Blues in 2003.

But, before Williams and the Ospreys can even dream of negotiating their way towards May’s final at Murrayfield, the Welsh region must create their own history.

Munster boast a proud yet formidable home record in the Heineken Cup which has yielded just two defeats in 43 previous matches — to the Ospreys’ arch-rivals Cardiff in 1997 and Leicester a decade later.

But the pint-sized wing admits he is relishing the challenge of facing the 2006 and 2008 winners and the daunting task of stopping New Zealand’s record try-scorer Howlett — with 49 tries in 62 Test appearances — in his tracks.

Williams said: “Doug is a great player and I really admire him.

“He’s a good defender and, of course, he score tries. It’s no easy feat scoring the number of tries that he’s done in his career — but he scores them for a reason.”

Despite both players’ notable successes, the try-scoring machines have both endured criticism in recent months.

Howlett, 30, has scored just one try in 11 Heineken Cup ties while Wales’ record try-scorer Williams received stinging criticism following a below-par Six Nations campaign.

But the wing wizard insists he is ready to ram the critics words down their throats in Limerick.

Williams said: “I want to come off the field having given my best and on a winning side. Hopefully I can silence my critics on Sunday.”