WATCH OUT, HERE SCRUMS TROUBLE
Sinckler and Marler on bans, big hits and Batman
THERE is a perception that Joe Marler and Kyle Sinckler are England’s bad Santas.
Between them the Harlequins props have been banned for gouging, verbal abuse, forearm smashes and kicks to the head in their careers.
Superb talents for sure but, fairly or unfairly, a hot- head reputation precedes them.
Do Marler and Sinckler think they are similar?
‘I was thinking about getting a Marler Mohawk … I’d look like Mr T!’ says Sinckler.
‘You haven’t had as many bans as I had at your age,’ Marler returns.
‘I have only had two,’ Sinckler rightly points out — last month he returned from what he jokes was his ‘sabbatical’, a seven-week ban for ‘intentionally’ targeting Northampton lock Michael Paterson’s eyes.
It meant he missed England’s autumn Tests but whatever the public opinion, it was the first serious suspension of the 24-year-old’s career.
On his return in the Champions Cup game at Ulster, Sinckler was sin-binned for body- checking Jacob Stockdale when Quins were 31-17 down and fighting for their European lives.
‘You have your moments of hot-headedness, but I would not describe you as an out-and- out bloke who loses his s*** all the time,’ says Marler, who watched Sinckler’s latest indiscretion from his sofa.
‘Tell the public that!’ Sinckler replies, before Marler continues.
‘That is exactly what I’m doing! In the Ulster game you could see it happening.
‘ Before that, everyone was saying how well you were playing. You had the bit between your teeth, were smashing people and the scrum was going really well.
‘Then it was that one flash-inthe-pan moment — you blank out everything ing and think, “I am not in n a rugby game, I just t want to put a shot on someone for my own satisfaction”.
‘I texted you afterwards saying that everything you were doing was spot on up p until that point. He has to be at that level, playing aying the way he does.’
Marler has empathy with a team-mate three years his junior — one of the shining lights of the Lions series. After all, it was him once upon a time.
‘I am very good at making my opponent’ s games ***. I am doing a job on them up here,’ he says pointing to his head. ‘Kyle is 24 — he needs to fail in order to learn.’ Marler is engaging company — the court jester label is not always accurate, but he does possess a disarming charm. Conversations with him can take unexpected turns. For instance, when explaining Sinckler’s steep learning curve, Batman lurked around the next corner. ‘What’ s Bruce Wayne’s dad called?’ he asks — no one remembers it is Thomas at the time. ‘ We will call him Bruce Wayne’s dad. When Bruce falls down the well he goes, “Bruce — why do we fall down son? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up again”.’ Sinckler’s summary of his style is a little more succinct. ‘ It’s rugby, innit. You aren’t cuddling each other,’ he says. There is mutual admiration between these two. ‘I like playing with Sinck,’ Marler enthuses.
‘He is a ball of energy and one of the best ball-carrying props in the world. I don’t say that flippantly. I have come across a lot of tightheads in the world and they cannot do what Kyle does.
‘His scrum game has really come on — in New Zealand you took it to the next level.
‘You give me some youthful energy when I can’t be bothered, so keep it up mate.’
‘Cheers Joe,’ Sinckler replies before recalling the first time he met loosehead Marler.
‘He drilled the s*** out of me in a scrum, popped me up, picked me off my feet.’
‘I don’t do that anymore,’ jokes Marler self-deprecatingly.
‘I was 17,’ Sinckler continues. ‘I had just come in fresh from Ayia Napa — you finish your exams and you go on holiday with your mates after. It was a training session and Joe drilled me!’
They are back training today in preparation for the annual Big Game — where Harlequins take over Twickenham Sinckler is recovering from his mother Donna’s traditional Caribbean Christmas feast. ‘We had a lot of family round — a lot of strong independent women!’ he laughs. ‘It is a loud household. I just eat my food and keep my mouth shut.
‘ In the morning we have gammon boiled in coke and glazed in honey. Then fried onions, plantains, hard dough bread, macaroni and cheese, rice and gungo peas, dumplings, turkey. It is a massive spread and you just settle in.’
MARLER’S was ‘jolly’ — he has spent December pranking his three-year- old son, Jasper, with an ‘Elf on the Shelf’ toy called Chippy.
‘Last week I was up at five in the morning making a racetrack in the kitchen out of some matting and some chairs,’ he grins.
‘I put my boy’s scooter on top of the sideboard and all the cars he likes, and then got loads of Christmas lights and pulled them down. Jasper comes down and says, “Where’s Chippy?”, then he finds him and goes, “Chippy, what have you done!” I have all sorts of fun with it.
‘If you touch him he loses his Christmas magic. We say, “Chippy is watching and every night he goes back to the North Pole to see Santa and tells him whether you’ve been naughty or nice today”.’
Eddie Jones will be in the Chippy role on Saturday, watching from on high at Twickenham when Quins play Northampton in front of more than 70,000 at ‘Big Game 10’.
Ahead of the Six Nations he will be making a list, and checking it twice — he will hope Marler and Sinckler are not naughty, but equally, not nice.
Big Game 10 tickets cost from £24 for adults and £14 for children. To book, visit tickets. quins.co.uk or call 020 8410 6010.