Sinckler in tears as he reveals pain of Gatland’s tour snub
WHILE man-of-the-moment Sam Simmonds celebrated his Lions’ call-up with two tries for Exeter, Kyle Sinckler choked back the tears as he took his frustrations out on Bath and helped confirm Bristol’s place in the end-of-season play-offs.
The prop was a shock omission from Warren Gatland’s Lions squad to tour South Africa when it was revealed on Thursday, and the 28-year-old tapped into his disappointment as Bears notched up a 40-20 win after being down at half-time with Sinckler dominating the scrum.
Sinckler could not hide his feelings after the match. He said: ‘I’m emotional. I wanted to use that anger. I’ve never had so much anger inside me and I used it in a positive way for the team.
‘Right now it doesn’t make sense but what I wanted to do was to lead by example. How easy would it have been for me to play the victim?’
He played all three Tests off the bench for the Lions in New Zealand four years ago but Gatland deems him surplus to requirements this time around.
Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam said: ‘Every single person had him in the squad, but the way he handled himself was superb.
To play like he did today was a credit to him. He will keep working hard and you never know — there’s a lot of rugby to be played between now and then.’
Nathan Hughes’ try before the break put Bristol on course and from there they ran riot, running in five more tries.
Meanwhile, Simmonds was in record-breaking form for Exeter with a brace of tries in another all-action display.
The 26-year-old helped Chiefs fight back from a slender firsthalf deficit to clinch a bonuspoint 41-10 win and maintain their push to retain the Premiership title.
In doing so he became the highest-scoring Premiership forward ever with 16 tries. Dave Ewers’ pushover try put Exeter in front before two close-range Simmonds scores sealed the bonus point. Late tries from Stuart Townsend and Jacques Vermeulen capped the win.