Stringer hands off Father Time
EVEN from this distance, Worcester’s home match against London Irish on December 23 is worth ringing in red ink. There is every chance it will be the first in the English Premiership to feature a 40year-old from these islands.
Peter Stringer’s six-month extension of the longest career in the professional game will keep him going beyond his next birthday towards the end of the year. By then nobody ought to be one bit surprised should the most evergreen of scrumhalves break every record as the oldest European player in the competition.
Fitness permitting, he will give Father Time a still wider berth than Brad Thorn, the first to play on into his fifth decade at the highest level. The All Black second row was three months into his 41st year when he bowed out for Leicester at Bath in May 2015.
Another durable Test lock, Simon Shaw, almost beat him to it before retiring a few months short of turning 40 after a final season at Toulon. Stringer’s career goes back more than 20 years, most of it in tandem with Ronan O’Gara for Cork Constitution, Munster and Ireland.