Dead-eye Stephen Myler has England in his sights

Northampton‘s marksman Stephen Myler has revealed his burning to desire to represent England during the forthcoming RBS Six Nations.
With Leicester‘s Toby Flood set to move to France and Freddie Burns in emotional turmoil as he contemplates his future at Gloucester, England boss Stuart Lancaster has decisions to make over a back-up to Owen Farrell.
Bath’s George Ford and Danny Cipriani, of Sale, are being touted, but Saints fly-half Myler has been a model of consistency and is putting his best foot forward in a bid to add to the one cap he won against Argentina in June.
Compelling statistics reveal Myler has a near 84 per cent success rate with the boot, significantly higher than Ford or Cipriani, while Northampton’s attack leaves both Bath and Sale in the shade and is the second most prolific behind Saracens.
Myler told The Rugby Paper: “I’d love to represent my country again. It’s a huge honour and I really enjoyed the Argentina tour. But first and foremost, I’ve got to be in the best possible frame of mind to help Northampton.
“It’s not my job to pick the England team, my focus is on doing the best I can for Northampton and keeping us at the top of the table. It’s about helping my team win, and if on the back of that something happens, great.”
Myler has started all 15 major matches for Saints this season and, having seen off challenges in recent seasons from Shane Geraghty and Ryan Lamb, he is revelling in the responsibility of leading the trophy charge.
He said: “I’m really enjoying this season, just from the amount of minutes I’ve had and particularly in my position where I’m trying to control the team and get the best out of it. You can only do that with a run of games and that’s what I’ve had.
“It gives you that consistency and fluency you’re looking for and it helps the people around you as well. They know what you’re expecting of them and vice-versa and, on an individual level, I want to be playing as much rugby as I can.
“The competition I’ve had at Saints keeps you humble and makes you realise you’ve got to play well to have the shirt. But this year it’s been me in the driving seat and I’ve known that I can get the best out of this team.
“The stats I’ve managed have been pleasing. It’s not something I take massive notice of but there’s been a lot of hard work over the years and this year we’ve been going pretty well and kept the scoreboard ticking over.”
Myler’s form has coincided with that of inside-centre Luther Burrell – another Saints man being strongly tipped for an England call.
Of his midfield partner, Myler said: “Luther’s in his second season and he’s gone from strength-to-strength. Like me, the amount of game time he’s had and the consistency of playing alongside me has helped the team a lot.
“He’s obviously got very good physical attributes to his game and he’s working hard to develop other aspects. Luther has shown what he can do and the key for all of us has been fitting our individual strengths into a coherent backline.”
Saints suffered a blip when hammered at home by Leinster in the Heineken Cup. But that wrong was righted a week later and Myler reckons his side are in good shape as they look to ramp up their challenge for silverware.
He added: “Leinster was a kick up the backside and we were massively below par. But we’ve shown the character within our squad by bouncing back and it’s made us all realise that we must maintain the standards we set.”
NEALE HARVEY