Marler wanted to be banned
Joe Marler has astonishingly revealed that he tried to pick up red cards and suspensions to avoid having to join up with the England squad.
Speaking exclusively to The Rugby Pod, the Harlequins prop opened up on his recent retirement and spoke about the lengths he’d go to in order to miss out on international duty.
“The anxiety I would get about having to leave and go away again would manifest itself in giving away more dull penalties and looking for outs, looking for a yellow card, looking for a red card, because if I could pick up a ban, that’s an easy way out without actually pulling the trigger,” he said.
Marler says it was a tactic that he adopted while playing for Harlequins in their 20-13 Premiership defeat to Bristol Bears on September 22nd, just a day before he was due to link up with the England squad for a training camp in Bristol.
“I played like an absolute helmet which often happened around England time. That mindset manifested itself. After that (Bristol) game, I said: ‘I can’t keep doing this. It’s not fair on my family; it’s not fair on the club’.”
Marler retired from the game last week in order to spend more time with his family and he hasn’t looked back since.
“It hasn’t felt that hard. It hasn’t felt like a big decision because I’ve been thinking about it for some time.”
‘I really enjoyed my time with England but as soon as I had kids, it completely flipped my perspective.’
Source: RugbyPass
