Peter Stringer keeps father time on hold as he prepares to smash 40-year-old barrier with Worcester

Peter Stringer will turn 40 years old before his six-month contract at Worcester Warriors ends. In what has been an illustrious and well-travelled career that has brought 98 caps for Ireland, a Six Nations Grand Slam, two European Cups and three Celtic Leagues on his way to becoming Munster’s most-capped player, he has long been one of the more recognised players in the game, no matter which side of the Irish Sea he is on.

With these accolades in the bag, it would be no surprise to see him call time on his playing days when Sale Sharks released him at the start of the summer. But he tells The Independent that retirement was never an option as far as he was concerned, and after embarking on the 20th pre-season programme of his career, he’s ready to put father time on hold for the rest of the year at least.

“I didn’t want to retire and I never thought I was going to retire,” says Stringer. “I suppose I was confident that in the time off I had in the summer I’d worked really hard training twice a day with my time off to maintain those fitness levels and keep things going hoping that an opportunity came up. Thankfully it did, but it didn’t really cross my mind.”

Stringer has two different motivations. The first, a new one to him, is how his rugby career affects his newly-expanded family. Stringer and his wife, Debbie, welcomed their first son Noah in April, and while Stringer was balancing the tasks of being a father along with finding a new club that offered a challenge that excited him, Worcester came calling.

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The second fulfilled the main criteria that has fuelled his desire to play at the top of the game for so long. Time and time again over the last six years, Stringer believes he has been written off because of his age, and it’s this combined with a quest to ensure he leaves the game with no regrets that means he will lay it all on the line once again when the new Premiership season resumes in September.

“I’ve just had a baby boy, the first was born a few months ago and that obviously changes things, puts them into perspective and you want to do what’s right for the family,” he adds. “I had an in-depth conversation with my wife and she was happy for me to continue playing. That’s what I wanted to do and she fully backed me in that. It was for me to find the right place and retiring never really came into my mind.

“I did want to continue playing at a high level and be with an ambitious club that had direction, I didn’t want to settle for something just for the sake of it. It was great when this came up and it’s given me another opportunity to keep going and play until I’m 40 which is great.

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“For me I genuinely feel as I did 15 years ago. I suppose really in the last five or six years it’s hit home when you hear from fellow players and coaches and pundits or media people speaking about a certain age and when guys should be finishing and at times that kind of negativity creeps into your head but I suppose I’m kind of stubborn and I don’t like living with regrets. I’d always see myself as someone who doesn’t pay much attention to what other people say, I know how I see myself and I know how my body feels.

“In the last five or six years I’ve taken everything to a new level really and given myself every opportunity to play at this level for as long as I can because I’m someone who will live with those regrets if I don’t give it everything I can in the time that I have. I suppose we’re in a privileged position to be able to play this game and to do it at this stage of my career is quite unusual, but again that’s motivation in itself to keep going, I still have the passion for it, the love of the game to go out and train on Monday morning when it’s cold and wet because the rewards then are you get to play on a Saturday in front of a crowd to try and get that winning feeling. That never leaves, the body is in good shape to do that and as long as mind and body are working together I think it’s a matter of going for as long as I can.”

The six-month contract that Stringer signed could yet find itself growing in length if circumstances play out in a way that suggests a continued partnership is the best for all parties. Stringer has been drafted in on a short-term deal at Sixways to cover for South Africa scrum-half Francois Hougaard while he’s away with the Springboks for the Rugby Championship and autumn internationals.

Asked if an extension has been considered, the former Ireland half-back admits: “I don’t know yet is the honest answer. It’s a case where I’m in a situation now brought in as cover for Francois Hougaard as he’s away with South Africa and due back in December, and I suppose it’s hard to know if there are injuries at the club.

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“There’s been chat of if they want to keep me in a situation like that but you just never know how things will pan out over the next few months and I’ve come into a set-up where obviously there’s a good set of scrum-halves and I’ll be fighting for a place as well like always, wherever you go these days you’re competing for a starting place and that’s what I always do and wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s a challenge and you know nothing comes easy so knuckle down in pre-season, try and get a starting place and a run in the team and you never know what can happen after that.”

Stringer has made a little bit of history against the Worcester during his career. His first appearances for both Saracens and Bath while on loan both came against the Warriors. But if he sees out his Worcester contract, he will be within 100 days of Brad Thorn’s Premiership record of playing at the age of 40 years and 109 days, and even if there is no extension in the pipeline you would not put it past Stringer’s burning desire to see him make another bit of rugby history.