Tipuric’s in no mood to panic
KYLE SINCKLER wore a contented smile after a frantic England-Wales dust-up peppered with ferocious intent and tackle trouble of varying descriptions.
Try as they might, in a feisty game in which Manu Tuilagi was sent off for a no-arm tackle on George North and Joe Marler put an unorthodox squeeze on Alun Wyn Jones, Wales had been unable to coax a rise out of him. Instead, the reformed rebel contributed 17 tackles and a dominant scrum performance – and had a significant hand in England’s helter-skelter victory. After his meltdown in Cardiff last year, this represented a form of closure for Sinckler and the prop opened up afterwards with remarkable candour.
“It was sink or swim because if I didn’t change then I wouldn’t have played for England any more. I cost the team a Grand Slam,” he said. “At that time my ego was bigger than this room. I really enjoyed being that villain – the bad boy of English rugby. I was just very angry. Very, very angry. “My issues were never anything to do with rugby, it was stuff outside of rugby. “At the time you feel like
KEEPING UP WITH JONESES If Eddie Jones signs a contract to the end of the 2023 World Cup, he could serve eight years in the job, becoming easily the longest-serving England rugby union head coach.
COACH TIME IN JOB Clive Woodward 6Y 10M Geoff Cooke 6Y 2M Eddie Jones 4Y 4M Stuart Lancaster 3Y 11M Martin Johnson 3Y 5M
TESTS 83 50 53 46 38 being the tough guy is grabbing guys, being in their face, saying things and wasting energy. But that is not being a man and being tough.
“A man just gets on with it and is in control of his emotions, gets on to his next job, is never flustered.
“It was funny, because the same kind of situations were happening in terms of holding me down this time, someone stamping on me, or certain things said – but it had no effect. I am so focused now and so dialled-in on what I need to do for the team to be successful.
“Now if you target me, that’s wasting energy on me. If two players are on top of me, that’s sweet, because there will be two fewer guys in the defensive line.”
Sincker dedicated Saturday’s game to the launch of his charitable foundation – R3cusants – aimed at ensuring more inner-city players like him make it to Twickenham.
Straight out of Tooting via Battersea Ironsides, Sinckler has taken a unique – and sometimes rocky – path to this England team.
“I remember one tournament when I was 12,” he said. “My mum got badly racially abused, which was an anomaly because you don’t associate rugby with that. The kid was trying to get under my skin.
“They took me off the pitch and my coaches said, ‘Cancel the game, he’s my player and he should never be experiencing that sort of stuff’, because I was fuming.
“When growing up, I didn’t have a dad and my grandad passed away when I was 16. I never had a male role model to look up to. I’ve got a big family full of women.That’s why I’m so emotional. I’ve tendencies of an independent black woman!
“It took time but I took responsibility and said, ‘If there are no male figures for me to look up to, then I’ve got to be the man and live it myself every day by being accountable and responsible, and leading with my actions’.”
His actions, and those of the rest of a hard-hitting pack whose bruising defence is a potent attacking weapon, meant England had sufficient collateral in the bank to withstandWales’s late comeback.
One more play, with England shorthanded by Tuilagi’s red card and a yellow for Ellis Genge, would have been interesting but despite the valiant efforts of two-try Justin Tipuric,Wales ran out of time.
Wales finish a disappointing Six Nations on Saturday at home to Scotland. Quite when England complete a more rewarding one in Italy, only the coronavirus knows.
SARACENS, boosted by the unexpected availability of MakoVunipola, beat Leicester 24-13 at Allianz Park in the Premiership.
Vunipola was not allowed to join up with the England camp because of coronavirus precautions, but Saracens had no problem with picking him. Cousin Manu Vunipola set up the first of two tries for Alex Lewington and kicked nine points.
Bristol made it five wins on the spin, beating Harlequins 28-15 to go third.
Exeter lead the table after thrashing
Bath 57-20.
JUSTIN TIPURIC called for calm as Wales contemplate their worst run in the Six Nations for 13 years.
A third straight defeat has left the defending champions theoretically in danger of the wooden spoon.
While such an eventuality is unlikely with Italy in the equation, Wayne Pivac’s first campaign in charge has been a chastening one.
But Tipuric, left, said: “The last thing we have got to do now is start panicking and pointing the finger.
“Internationals are pressure games but there are easy fixes and at the end of the day we are on the field who can put it right. “We are not far away, we just need to be a bit more clinical. It was frustrating that we gave ourselves so much to do.”
Wales’ broken-field ball-playing talent was obvious when they finally escaped England’s stranglehold late on, with Tipuric crossing for his second try and Dan Biggar also touching down.
But a losing bonus point was all Wales could muster as England’s more formulaic approach prevailed.
Tipuric said: “They are a big, powerful team. They played to their strengths. They have got a game plan and they stick to it. It was not so much about the fancy rugby but they grind teams down and batter you.”
Wales face Scotland at the Principality Stadium in their final game on Saturday.
They will be without Jake Ball, who has undergone surgery on the shoulder he damaged at Twickenham and will be sidelined for 12 weeks.
Prop Dillon Lewis is also a doubt with an ankle injury.
Pivac said: “Playing at home, we’d like to finish the campaign on a good note with a positive performance.”
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