Myler milestone just a sideshow
Northampton Saints flyhalf Steve Myler will reach 50 appearances in European competitions if he plays in the final two Champions Cup fixtures this month.
Saints currently sit on top of Pool Five with 15 points, one ahead of unbeaten Racing Metro '92, and the 30-year-old Myler is hoping to steer his side into the last eight.
Last season they missed out on the quarterfinals in the top-tier, but did go on to win the club's third European title, the Challenge Cup in Cardiff.
They previously won the European Cup in the first Twickenham Final in 2000 and the Challenge Cup at the Twickenham Stoop in 2009.
As well as closing in on 50 appearances, Myler also needs only one point to reach 450 in all European matches.
He has scored 288 of those in the top-tier tournaments.
Saints head to the Liberty Stadium this weekend for their return leg against Pro12 leaders Ospreys.
The Premiership champions and leaders won the first meeting 34-6 in Round Two and did the double over the Welsh region last season, winning 27-16 at Franklin's Gardens and 29-17 in Swansea.
Myler kicked 12 points in both fixtures last year and has scored 36 points in his four outings in the Champions Cup to date this season.
But the reigning Challenge Cup champions will head back into Europe on the back of a 7-20 defeat at Sale Sharks that allowed Bath to move to within one point of them at the top of the Premiership last weekend.
It was the first time in seven games the Saints had been beaten and Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder was he first to admit his side has plenty of room to improve.
"We look at our game and it wasn't good enough, I think we accept that particularly in the first half we were pretty poor, I think a lot of that comes from Sale's good play. Defensively we need to look at that," said Mallinder.
"We are top of the league, which is good, but there are still parts of the game we need to work on, as always. We have got to put this behind us, it is a blip we are not happy with it, but we will live to fight another day."
