Players Who Shook the Crumbie #40: Pat Howard

[Iain]

Our current head coach first foined us as a player from Australian Super 12 side ACT Brumbies before the 1998/99 having won 20 caps for the Wallabies. Pat immediately treated us to some breathtaking displays of vision and creativity before having his progress checked by a broken jaw. When he recovered, his ability to create space out of nowhere for the rest of the backs, to dance through a gap like it wasn't there and fire out inch perfect miss passes was ultimately a key factor in us winning the league that season. And so it was to continue for the rest of his time with us, most notably in the second of our four in a row titles when he strook up an incredible partnership with Leon Lloyd. The pair of them seemed to know what the other was going to do instinctively, and so often it resulted in tries.
Pat's third and final season as a Tigers player saw him become player / back's coach, and the increased influence he had on the Tigers was no small part to the creation of perhaps the greatest Tigers team of all time. Tigers wrapped up the Premiership in record time, and then went on to win the inaugural Zurich Championship at Twickenham, before 20,000 Tigers fans made the pilgrimage to the Parc des Princes in Paris for the Heineken Cup Final of 2001. Pat had already announced that this game would be his last for Tigers before he returned to Australia in an attempt to win back his place in the Wallabies side, and seemed hell-bent on making sure he went away on a high. Having gone in at half time behind courtesy of a Diego Dominguez kicking masterclass, it was Pat's foresight that got Tigers back in the game, releasing Geordan Murphy with a perfectly weighted cross field kick, for Geordan to chip ahead of the advancing defence for Leon Lloyd to touch down in the corner. All created by the faultless vision of Pat. The rest was history, as a last gasp Leon try clinched the club its first Heineken Cup success. At the final whistle, in the midst of all the jubilation at the triumph there was a genuine twist of sadness at the realisation that we had seen Pat play his last game for us, and as the lap of honour went round the pitch, an impromptu singing of 'Waltzing Matilda' from the Tigers faithful stopped a clearly choked Pat in his tracks, stopping where he was to applaud the Tigers crowd with a tear in his eye as the rest of the players carried on with the lap of honour. A fitting tribute to a great Tiger.
After a short spell with ACT Brumbies failed to win him back his Wallabies spot, Pat moved to French club Montferrand before being tempted back to the club as backs coach to work with John Wells. After Wells' surprise departure, Pat was promoted to the head coach position, where we hope to see the good times roll in as they did when he was a player for us.
Playing highlights, again far too many to list all of them but a giant miss-pass for Lloyd to set up Craig Joiner's try in a key title decider at Franklins Gardens, an outrageous dummy for his first try for the club on the last day of his first season in a mauling of West Hartlepool and the title clincher in his second season against Bristol where a clever chip released Geordan Murphy to score, and a cleverly disguised pop pass to Leon to score under the posts are all memories which stick fondly in the head.

[Arboro]

And a thoroughly nice bloke.

I went on the Lions Tour 2001, and on very cold June evening in Canbera, bumped into Pat, as he wandered through the Sports Institute with the Brumbies. Us three girls were wearing our Tigers shirts over our Lions shirts, and about 20 other layers!

He came and chatted, was thrilled to see Tigers fans and urged us to wrap up warm!!! it was minus 15 when we watched the game. The guy next to me in a kilt and sandals, obviously had not met Pat before hand, and looked a wee bit chilly!

There was also the time we went to Bath to see Montferrand play there, we were the only four Tigers fans in the city that day and boy did we confuse the locals. But Pat waved and came to chat after the match and told us he was coming back. We knew first before any official announcements. We posted the news on this site and were ridiculed by many for our 'obviously untrue facts'. So imagine our glee when we were proved right, a definite feeling of I told you so.

All in all one of the nicest blokes, with a smile and a word for everyone.

[TerraceJoe]

If I were picking an all time Tigers XV Pat would be one of the first names I picked. An absolute pleasure to watch play, probably the best back to ever play for us.

[Caerlyr Osprey]

Have to agree with the above comments, Pat's the best back I've seen at Welford Rd in the 9 seasons I've standing on the terrace.