Doug Howlett advised Irish club to sign Julian Savea

Former All Black flyer Doug Howlett has revealed that he advised Munster to sign Julian Savea in an interview with BBC Rugby Union Weekly.

“I’ve tried to talk Munster into signing Julian Savea and getting him up here but at this stage, it’s not something we are looking for,” he said.

Howlett, now the current Head of Commercial and Marketing at Munster, signed with the Irish club following the 2007 Rugby World Cup, where he won the Heineken Cup in 2008 before becoming a club captain.

Savea is chasing Howlett’s All Blacks try-scoring record of 49 test tries, however, is currently stalled on 46 tries after being largely overlooked in 2017 by the All Blacks for the in-form Rieko Ioane.

Savea recently opted against exercising his get-out clause of his contract with the NZRU and Hurricanes, deciding that remaining at home is the ‘best place to be’  to achieve an international comeback. The 27-year-old’s contract runs for another 2 years, expiring after the 2019 World Cup.

A successful Mitre 10 Cup campaign with the Wellington Lions saw Savea start a number of games in the unfamiliar number 14 jersey, a move likely designed to compete for the right-wing spot in the All Blacks.

With Ioane expressing a desire to play at centre in the future, Savea may be back-in-black soon.