All Black Carter hails ‘top bloke’ Howlett

From one All Blacks legend to another, fly-half Dan Carter yesterday paid a touching tribute to Munster captain and former team-mate Doug Howlett, who on Tuesday announced his retirement with immediate effect due to a shoulder injury.

New Zealand’s all-time leading try scorer Howlett, 34, and its record points scorer Carter, 31, played 24 Tests together between 2003 and 2007, after which the winger left New Zealand for Munster.

Howlett’s enforced retirement after five and a half seasons in Ireland did not go unnoticed in his homeland, however, and Carter, All Black No. 1034 paid tribute to No. 992 on Twitter yesterday, posting a picture of the pair together celebrating another All Blacks success.