Nick Cain talks to Stephen Myler – the fly-half driving Northampton’s challenge to retain their Championship

Stephen Myler is the Stuart Lancaster‘s most experienced fly-half and, on the evidence of the last six months, offers a mix of precision and effervescence which makes him a serious rival to England incumbent Owen Farrell. Myler’s masterclass in a blistering Northampton start in which the champions buried Gloucester under a half-century of points last weekend highlighted those qualities, and will have given Stuart Lancaster a timely nudge as he surveys his fly-half options.
The England head-coach is not usually a knee-jerker when it comes to selection, so the idea that the Saints No.10’s excellence against Gloucester will instantly shunt Farrell down the pecking order is unlikely – but much more of the same and Myler’s autumn challenge to the Saracens player will become cast-iron.
The 30-year-old Saint, now in his eighth season at Franklin’s Gardens, has been a slow burner for most of it. Initially, having been born into one of the most illustrious Rugby League families in the country and signed for Widnes Vikings and then Salford Reds, he had multiple cross-over hurdles to negotiate when Northampton offered him a contract in 2006.
The first obstacle was his League background, and a knowledge of Union confined to 15 minutes at school. Myler’s dad, John, played full-back for Widnes, his uncle, Tony, was the Widnes captain and Great Britain stand-off, and his great uncle, Frank, was the captain of the last Great Britain side to win a series against Australia, doing it on Aussie soil in 1970.
However, Myler says: “I felt a bit stale in Rugby League and when Northampton offered a great opportunity I thought it would be better to go early in my career and find out. By that stage I’d also started watching what Jason Robinson and Henry Paul were doing in Union.”

With his father supporting the switch he took the plunge, but his League pedigree did not transfer to the Union code straight away. Myler had to battle hard to become a regular fixture in a Saints side that was relegated in 2007-08, and which, having then bounced straight back up, favoured a fly-half rotation system. This saw Myler sharing the 10 shirt with Barry Everritt, Shane Geraghty and Ryan Lamb over the next six seasons – and while he was usually ahead in the pecking order he was never a certainty.
The arrival of Alex King as Northampton backs coach from Clermont a year ago saw that change, and, having been confirmed as the Saints main helmsman, Myler has been transformed. King’s influence on a player with whom he shares many similarities as a fly-half has been profound.
Like Myler, King never had the fastest break, but his guile as a passer and tactical kicker who could select the right instrument at the right moment was unrivalled in the Premiership during his halcyon days with Wasps. At the moment Myler is a mirror image, and although King refuses to take any credit, he is full of praise for what the Northampton 10 has achieved. “His goal-kicking is the best in the league, and his passing is precision, as he showed last week with the try-scoring passes to George Pisi and the one over the blitz defence to George North.
“I’ve really enjoyed working with him – he has a great deal of experience at the top level and he does a huge amount of work on analysis, so we speak about tactics every day.”
King adds: “It did help Stephen being the undisputed first choice fly-half, and I wanted to develop that leadership role in terms of how you drive the team and direct play. However, he was a very good player before I came, and I can’t take any credit for his goal-kicking, where, having worked with Paul Grayson, he had good technique.”
Ask Myler if he found the rotation policy difficult and he is plain-speaking. “I’m not sure difficult is the right word. But, I’m a professional player and I want to play every minute I can. I always felt that the more game time I got the better I played – I think that when I’ve had the shirt for a long time I’ve played my best rugby, and so has the club.”
King also emphasises the importance of the 9-10 link to the growth of any fly-half. “Just as it was for me playing with the Rob Howley and Matt Dawson at Wasps, Stephen is playing with two world class scrum-halves at Saints in Lee Dickson and Kahn Fotuali’i.”
He adds that Myler, like his senior Saints team-mates, has learned much from the heartache of losing finals, such as the Heineken Cup (2011) and Premiership (2013).
“Stephen’s now 30, and sometimes you need to have experienced the tough times to become the player you want to be. It is a tough position to play and you have to be mentally strong.”
King believes that Northampton will need to summon that resolve against his old club at Adams Park today. “Wasps will be a very difficult challenge away from home, and they will be smarting from the narrow loss to Saracens last weekend. They have recruited well and have X-factor players all over the pitch.”

Myler says that the Northampton mentality now is not so much hanging onto the title they won with a last-gasp Alex Waller try in their extra-time epic against Saracens at Twickenham in May, as going on another winning spree.
“The approach has always been the same since Jim Mallinder took over (as director of rugby) – win all our games. But every year the squad has improved, and last year it was the strongest ever. So, when the international period came along, the guys we had signed combined with the young players coming through meaning we were still able to do well.
“Also the experience we’ve had meant that we were more used to being in and around big games.”
He adds: “With that, and Alex King coming in to develop our patterns of play and bring a few fresh ideas, it all contributed to giving us a great chance. He stresses the importance of doing the simple things well and of the whole team playing as a fully integrated 15, not so much as forwards and backs.”
Myler says the Premiership is a league in which only your best will do – and in which ‘Don’t Panic!’ is an essential mantra: “There’s a tactical shift every week, because if you are not controlling your game against any of these clubs then you are soon behind the eight-ball. You have to react on the field – and what we did well last season was if we went behind at the end of big games we did not panic. Whether it was in the Amlin Cup final against Bath, the 80th minute against Leicester in the semi-final play-off, or the 100th minute of the Premiership final against Saracens we kept our focus, and it paid off.”
Myler has a reputation for being reserved, but he says that on the field that soon evaporates. “I’m definitely not reserved on the pitch. I need to have an influence over my team-mates to get the best out of the team. Pressure is intangible, whether it’s in your mind or in someone else’s. The main thing is that I see it as a chance to do something good. The more you are in those kind of high-pressure games the better equipped you are to find a way to win.”
He says that the biggest disappointment, and the biggest lesson, came from losing the 2011 Heineken Cup final to Leinster.
“I deal with failure better now than I used to. Now you think, ‘what can I learn from it’? It was devastating losing that game, but there were a few things where we switched off, and then we simply couldn’t stop their momentum. What we learned is that you cannot open the door against good teams because they will take advantage – when you get ahead you have to cherish it, because if you don’t top teams will come back and hurt you.”
What about winning the new European Champions Cup? Myler says: “It’s a big ambition – but it’s not at the forefront. Our philosophy is to win every game, and not to get too far ahead. It will take a hell of a lot of graft, but hopefully we’ll get ourselves into the knockout stages and go from there.”
Myler’s blueprint for continued Saints success is delivered bluntly. “We need to improve because the other teams will. We have to go out there and earn it if we want to do it again. We have to remember how difficult it was to win those two games against Leicester and Saracens. Often the margins are so small – and what decides it is very often a small incident.”
He says that the importance of taking your chances was impressed on him when he was part of the England squad on the recent summer tour to New Zealand, despite the disappointment of not being able to add to the cap he won against Argentina a year earlier.
“Something I took away was how New Zealand got better as the series went on. In the second and third Tests every opportunity they had to score they took. That’s what separates teams.”
It also separates players. Ask King if he thinks that Myler has that killer instinct and he says: “Yes, in the way he punishes teams with his kicking and passing. We often talk of players with X-factor in terms of pace and power, but he makes sure it all gels. He’s a very important player for us.”
So where does he see Myler in the current England fly-half contest?
“At the moment England have a number of very good fly-halves to pick from, Owen Farrell, George Ford, Freddie Burns and Danny Cipriani among them. Stephen Myler wants to challenge all of them – and they will bring the best out of each other.”
As for Myler’s own England wish-list, his reserve disappears: “Of course I’m excited by the prospect of the World Cup and the build-up to it, but the main thing I’d say is that I’m craving an opportunity. That’s it – then it’s up to me.”
*This article was first published in The Rugby Paper on September 14.