STEPHEN MYLER says motivation to get London Irish “back where they belong” in the Premiership was a big factor in his decision to move down south this summer.
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The fly-half had spent 12 years at Northampton Saints, with the last 10 of those seasons being in the Premiership, before opting to leave.
And the 34-year-old says meeting with Exiles director of rugby Declan Kidney and head coach Les Kiss swayed his decision of where his next move should be.
“There was a lot of consideration of what I was going to do,” Myler told The Wokingham Paper.
“It was the right time for me to leave Saints.
“I needed something different. I needed a new place to live and a new environment really.
“It’s funny how you get in your comfort zone when you’ve been somewhere for so long.
“There were a lot of considerations for me. I thought about potentially going abroad but for me the best fit was to stay in England.
“To be honest, when I met with Les and Declan and they told me what their plans for the club were, it seemed like the right place for me straightaway.”
He continued: “Obviously it is the Championship but there is a massive reason why I’ve come to London Irish and it is to help them get back to where I think as a club they belong.
“It’s been a little bit up and down in recent seasons but from my time in the Premiership, I remember playing against them when they were in the Premiership final and going far in Europe. They’re fully capable of hopefully getting there again in the future.
“At this point it’s my job to play some part in starting that journey back to the Premiership.
“That’s how I looked upon it really.
“It was the best fit for me at this time and hopefully I can contribute to what will be a successful season.”
Myler has started all three of Irish’s games so far and was named man-of-the-match on his home debut in the victory over Nottingham.
While the majority of his career has been spent in the top flight, Myler did have one season in the second tier way back in 2007-08.
Following his switch from rugby league side Salford City Reds, Myler helped Saints dominate the league below, winning all 30 matches to storm back into the Premiership at the first time of asking.
“That was my first full season in rugby union,” he recalls.
“I kind of look back fondly on it because it helped me to learn the game having come over from rugby league.
“But it’s so long ago I don’t remember that much about it in terms of the specifics of the games.
“It was a good time because we managed to go undefeated.
“Obviously when you’re winning every game you enjoy your rugby.”
He added: “We’re just aiming to improve and see where that takes us really.
“Hopefully that will be going back up (to the Premiership), but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves at the moment.
“We know that we’ve got some work to do and we’ve got to improve.”
