Career Record for Wales: Played 19: Won 12, Lost 7.
Test Points: 23
Tries: 4
Drop Goals: 1.
1998 v South Africa (Wembley) L 28-20
1998 v Argentina (Llanelli) W 43-30
1999 v Scotland (Murrayfield) L 33-20 (FN)
1999 v Ireland (Wembley) L 29-23 (FN)
1999 v France (Paris) W 34-33 (FN)
1999 v Italy (Treviso) W 60-21
1999 v England (Wembley) W 32-31 (FN)
1999 v Argentina (Buenos Aries) W 36-26
1999 v Argentina (Buenos Aries) W 23-16
1999 v South Africa (Cardiff) W 29-19
1999 v Canada (Cardiff) W 33-19
1999 v France (Cardiff) W 34-23
1999 v Argentina (Cardiff) W 23-18 (W.Cup)
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1999 v Japan (Cardiff) W 64-15 (W.Cup)
1999 v W. Samoa (Cardiff) L 38-31 (W.Cup)
1999 v Australia (Cardiff) L 24-9 (W.Cup)
2000 v France (Cardiff) L 36-3 (SN)
2000 v Italy (Cardiff) W 47-16 (SN)
2000 v England (Twickenham) L 46-12 (SN)
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Shane is pictured playing for New Zealand on 26 October 1993. Photo George Herringshaw. ©
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With just four caps, all of which were won in the same year, Shane
Howarth's All Black career was extremely brief. The Auckland fullback
made his debut in 1994 against South Africa and played in all three
tests of a series the All Blacks won 2-0. His fourth and final cap came
against Australia in the one off Bledisloe encounter. In 1995 Glen
Osborne became the preferred fullback and it appeared that Shane's test
career was over. However, the story didn't end there.
After plying his
trade in the English Premiership with Sale, Howarth announced that his
grandfather was from Wales and that he thus qualified to pull on the red
shirt. The Welsh management were eager to bolster their side after
several miserable years and hurried him into the team, his test debut
coming against the touring Springboks in 1998. Wales then embarked on a
magical sequence of victories of which Shane played a major part,
including triumphs over England, France (twice) and South Africa.
However, in 2000 the fairytale came to an end when it was discovered
that Shane was about as Welsh as a yorkshire pudding.
Intrepid
investigators had discovered that Shane's grandfather was not from Wales
at all but rather had been born in...... New Zealand! A similar fate
befell fellow Welsh Kiwi Brent Sinkinson, and the affair became known as
"Grannygate". Thus, Shane's last game as a "Welshman" came in a heavy
defeat by England at Twickenham. He continued to play club rugby for
Newport, hoping to play for Wales again by seeing out the qualification
period, but by the time the allotted three years were up, IRB rules had
been altered to the effect that no player could represent more than one
country. (Jon Collins)
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