In 2012, Howard was named in the South Africa Under–20 side that participated in the 2012 IRB Junior World Championship on home soil. He started the first match of the competition at outside centre, but was on the losing side as they suffered a 19–23 defeat to Ireland. He came on as a substitute in their next pool match against Italy, scoring a try in injury time at the end of the match to help South Africa to a convincing 52–3 victory. He started their final match in the pool stages against England on the left wing and played the entire 80 minutes as his side achieved a 28–15 victory to qualify for the semi-finals. An untimely hamstring injury ruled Howard out of the remainder of the tournament, with his side going on to win the competition for the first time, beating New Zealand 22–16 in the final.