Joe Marler has revealed that his tearful daughter convinced him to retire from England duty prior to his shock announcement this week. The Harlequins prop pulled out of the Autumn Series internationals before surprising fans by revealing that he would quit international rugby for good.
Marler, who earned 95 England caps, shared an emotional conversation with his young daughter Maggie before returning to a training camp last week. She demanded to know why he kept having to stay away from home for long periods of time.
The 34-year-old told the Daily Mail: “I did the Girona training week but at the end of the last training session, knackered, I sat in the sun thinking, ‘I can’t do this anymore’. The game’s passed me by now, I can’t keep up. It was sad to admit. How long can you flog a dead horse?
“On the Sunday night, when I went back into camp, I’d sort of made my mind up. It wasn’t a kneejerk thing. My daughter Maggie was crying her eyes out about me leaving asking, ‘Why do you have to keep going away?’ and I was like ‘Awh, it’s my job’. It’s my job but there’s always a choice.
“I had to go in and see Steve [Borthwick] in person. I’ve got too much respect for the bloke to just call him up. I just said to Steve, ‘Can I grab you for a minute?’. We went down to the bar and spoke about it.
“He seemed shocked, gutted, but he understood that I’d given some thought to it. He came back with, ‘Do you not want one more game? One more against South Africa, you and Dan Cole’. There was three per cent of me in that moment that thought, ‘maybe’, but I’d made up my mind.”
Marler has teased a future in reality television. It was put to him that he could do Strictly Come Dancing.
However, he admits that he would “love” to go into the I’m A Celebrity jungle. But Marler admits that he would need to be careful of a ‘risk’ experienced by former team-mate James Haskell.
“There’s not enough room in here and I’ve got a dead arse. Would I do that stuff? Yeah I’d definitely do that stuff but it’s not a career is it? I’d do it as a fan of those shows and I’d do it for the desire I have to experience these things.
“I’d love to go in the jungle. I’m a Celebrity – that’d be such great fun. Obviously, it comes with the risk that James Haskell experienced – or said he experienced – that he was edited badly. That’s why he came across so badly, because he was so hungry. Hmmm, yeah, it was definitely the edit!”