The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Sinckler is emerging out of the dark
Kyle Sinckler has no recollection of the World Cup final – despite watching much of England’s defeat by South Africa from the sidelines after being knocked unconscious in the opening moments.
Sinckler admits it took almost four weeks to come to terms with the cruel misfortune of seeing the biggest match of his life ended by an accidental collision and he has not watched a replay of the November 2 showdown.
Once the explosive Harlequins prop had risen to his feet he was able to walk to the replacements bench where he witnessed England fall to a deflating 32-12 defeat, but the battle being fought out before him passed in a fog.
“It took three or four weeks to get over the final. It was dark,” he said in his first interview since the World Cup.
“You go through phases where you’re distraught, feeling sorry for yourself and down in the dumps.
“I was struggling because I tore my calf just before the semifinal. It was a pretty bad one as well so I couldn’t really walk.
“That was getting better and then in the final I got a pretty big concussion, so I didn’t really know what was going on.
“I can’t remember anything really from the final. They said I came back out, but I can’t remember that.
“It was an innocuous incident which was just meant to be, but it was really, really tough.
“You ask yourself, ‘why me? I’ve trained so hard to get to this moment. I’ve dreamed it, this is my life’.
“But then I snapped out of it, realising that you can either be the guy who is always feeling sorry for yourself or use it as motivation to push on.
“So I just flipped it on its head. It wasn’t meant to be, so crack on, just keep doing what I’m doing and keep working hard and hopefully I’ll get selected for England again.
“Because I never take that for granted – ever, ever.”
The incident ended an outstanding World Cup for Sinckler, who showed his athleticism and rugby smarts to run in his debut Test try in the quarter-final game against Australia.