Peter Stringer on playing at 40, how he honed his passing skills and rejecting growth hormones as a child

Among Peter Stringer’s earliest memories is a passing drill his father made him perform in their garden. His father would stand still while a five-year-old Stringer would run alternate directions around him throwing passes off either hand.

“I remember clearly becoming really frustrated that he was standing still while I had to run,” Stringer said. “I couldn’t figure out why I was getting tired and he was enjoying it.”

As he turns 40 on Wednesday, Stringer is still running. In a couple of weeks, his contract at Worcester Warriors expires but the scrum-half, who won the first of his 98 Ireland caps in 2000 against Scotland, has no thought of hanging up his boots. Physically, he says he is better in shape than he was 15-20 years ago while his enthusiasm for the game has only intensified as he has got older.

“If the right opportunity comes up then I will go for it,” Stringer told The Daily Telegraph. “Whatever environment I am in I want it to be competitive and ambitious. That’s my main aim: to be a part of something special. And I want to be a part of it. I don’t want to be a hanger-on. I want to add value to a place, not just continuing for the sake of it.”

Stringer’s assessment of his own fitness levels his confirmed by his scores on the bleep test. Long held up as an example of a model professional, Stringer is tee-total, the result of childhood memories of seeing fans passed out after games at Lansdowne Road. “I remember thinking I never want to be like that,” he says. Practically every week, he has to refuse offers of pints from Munster supporters for his 15 trophy-laden years with the province.

Despite such service, he slipped out the first-team picture in 2010. For the first time he found himself outside a Munster match-day 23 and out on loan to Saracens and Newcastle. It was then he admits he became a “little bit obsessive” about his fitness levels, changing his nutrition and sleeping habits. “I would have massive regrets in my life if I had the opportunity to be back out there playing week in, week out and I was not in the best possible shape that I could be,” Stringer said. “I find that it comes down to the 21-22 hours a day when you are not training that contributes to the longevity. It is about what you do when you get home when you are away from the eyes of the coaches and nutritionists.”

The next opportunity came in 2013 when he received a call from Gary Gold asking if he could provide injury cover for Bath. That was on the Monday. On the Saturday, he came off the bench to score two tries against Exeter for the “first time in my career”. 

Stringer stayed at Bath for three seasons and then became Sale Sharks’ player of the season in 2016. His longevity is all the more remarkable considering the premium the sport has placed at fostering giants over the past two decades. At 5ft 7in and 11st 7lb, Stringer is half the weight of some international forwards. 

He has refused to ever see his size as a disadvantage. There’s a video on YouTube of him tackling Jonah Lomu, even if the commentator rather unkindly suggests the All Black wing lost his footing. “It was studs and the boot lace of one boot,” Stringer said. “That’s what I have learnt over the years. You don’t look at the full person when they are running at you, just focus on their boots and ankles.”

When he was 10, his parents suggested that he take a course of growth hormones. “My mum had a cousin whose son was a similar size to me when he was young and he did that,” Stringer said. “A few weeks later, he had grown a few inches but had also turned into a completely different person. I remember getting upset by the whole thing and thinking this is going to change me. I was small for my age, but I had always been happy with the way I was.”

That resolute determination to be true to himself has been a guiding principle throughout his career. He has never attempted to reinvent himself as a scrum-half but focused on his core strength of providing his fly-half with fast, accurate service. 

Another drill he used to perform with his father was passing with his back against a pebble-dashed wall. Every time he attempted a backswing he would rip skin off his knuckles. “My pass is quite unique in the way it travels and that probably comes from the one-handed stuff,” Stringer said. “My pass comes from shoulders and lats with wrists at the end whereas you see a lot of guys who rely on a wristy pass. For me a pass is a whole body action rather than just an arm action.”

Stringer is not a sentimental type; his wife is under strict orders not to make a fuss on Wednesday. There is no end goal, such as overtaking Brad Thorn to become the Premiership’s oldest player. Rather than life beginning at 40, Stringer wants to prove that it doesn't have to finish there for professional players. 

“It is not a thought of me thinking I am hanging on until I am 40,” Stringer said. “That’s not the case. You come across a lot of people and their workload is reduced as they get older, but if I can keep my workload the same and keep training at the same intensity then there’s no reason why I can’t continue into my 40s because my game is about playing at three-quarters pace. 

“40 is a great number to get to but it is similar to being on 98 Ireland caps. 100 would have been nice but then I would have wanted to get to 110, 120. This is the same. If I play once I am 40 then I will want to get to 42-43.”