PETER JACKSON
THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW
The longest career of the 21st century came to a cruelly anti-climactic end yesterday, its creator denied a final farewell on a stage as grand as his longevity.
Stephen Myler's survival for 23 years in a notoriously hazardous profession makes him the veterans' veteran and something more: the only England fly-half who can claim in all honesty never to have missed a goal for his country.
At that point, the Merseysider's innate modesty kicks into immediate action with the deflating reminder that he only ever had one shot. Contemporaries like Jonny Wilkinson, Charlie Hodgson, Paul Grayson and Alex King had a few more.
“One from one,” says Myler in chuckling reference to the day his Test career started and finished as a 65th minute substitute for Freddie Burns during an England win over Argentina in Buenos Aires 10 years ago. “Still, I don't suppose there are many who can say they didn't miss.”
One who can springs to mind, perhaps the only one: Lee Jarvis, a prodigious goalkicker either side of the century for Cardiff and Pontypridd among others. Like Myler, he had time only at Test level for one shot, a last-minute conversion when Wales trounced Romania at Wrexham in 1997.
The sheer length of Myler's journey, going all the way back to the turn of the century, is unlikely to be superseded. Leaving school at 16, Myler's immediate pursuit of a family tradition gave him a jump start on the only current European player who happens to be a little older.
Sergio Parisse, due to finish at the end of this season shortly before turning 40, started with Treviso after the Englishman, 39 this summer, joined the St Helens academy. After one season there, Myler signed for hometown Widnes, thereby extending the family tradition set by his uncle Tony and father John.
Four seasons with the then newly rebranded Vikings and one at Salford paved the way for a crosscode move which would last for 17 seasons: 12 at Northampton, two at London Irish with the last three in Swansea as an Osprey taking his span to 23 seasons.
Alun Wyn Jones has endured on a similar scale and yet the world's most-capped player who began at Swansea in 2004 still falls three seasons short of Myler's total. He made his Widnes debut, against St Helens at Knowsley Road, in July 2003 and has spent the 20 years since playing nothing but first-team matches save for the inevitable pit stops.
“Judgement Day” at the Principality Stadium would have been a fitting stage for a fleeting, farewell token appearance from the bench had he not been ruled out by a persisting hamstring issue.
“I don't recall much about that first match but then it was a long time ago,” he says. “What I do remember is getting a call the day before to say they'd made a late change and that I'd be playing.
“It was a boyhood dream, playing Rugby League for Widnes like my dad and uncle Tony. Despite what they'd achieved, I was never put under any pressure to follow them.
“My mum would have preferred me to have done something else because she was always worried sick I'd get a bad injury. But, for me, it felt the natural thing to do. My dad coached me from the age of eight so I owe him a lot.
“The game has changed a lot in the 20-odd years since I began. Players coming through academies now are so much bigger and stronger.
The demands of the game are just relentless in their intensity.
“I wouldn't say that nobody will be around in the next 20 years for as long as I've been. Improvements in sports science can increase the chances of players lasting longer but you do need a certain amount of luck and a great deal of desire.”
A few drops of one and a bucketful of the other has enabled Myler to last longer than any British or Irish fly-half of the professional era, the evergreen Johnny Sexton being a year younger and ready to call it quits after the World Cup. On a global scale, only Morne Steyn of contemporary players can claim to be older than Myler.
There is only 10 days between them and the most durable of Springboks is also retiring at the end of the Bulls' domestic season. Now that his has finished, Myler is left to count his blessings. “I consider myself very fortunate,” he says. “Year after year, I've asked myself: ‘Do I still want to do it? Am I still motivated?'
“For all those years, the answer to both has always been ‘yes'. I have learnt to be disciplined and persistent. I've loved being at the Ospreys for the last three seasons, great people who have made me feel really welcome.
“Now I'll take a little time to assess what I do next. I'm in the process of exploring a few options and figuring it all out.”
The same applies to others who have also stood the most demanding taskmaster of all, Father Time, while serving the game with distinction along the way, none more nobly than Sergio Parisse who may yet finish up back to the Stade de France with Toulon in the Top 14 final.
