Sinckler vows to keep cool head in Wales
Kyle Sinckler has promised to keep his cool no matter what the provocation in the red-hot atmosphere of the Principality Stadium, where unbeaten Eng- land and Wales face off on Saturday.
The tighthead prop has been involved in flashpoints in each of England’s opening two victories of the Guinness Six Nations Championship.
Against Ireland, Sinckler had a com- ing-together with Peter O’Mahony, the flanker, and last week he exchanged strikes with France’s Arthur Iturria, when he sailed close to receiving a yellow card as Nigel Owens, the referee, lectured him on his “rugby values”.
The skirmishes will not have escaped the attention of Warren Gatland, the Wales head coach. His players will also be ready to antagonise Sinckler, knowing England can ill afford to have a player sent to the sin-bin.
Sinckler, though, maintains that he will not let England down in the heat of the battle and that all his actions are carefully controlled. “The main thing is just not letting it get in the way of the main goal, which is the team winning,” Sinckler said.
“Whatever you say, I’m always in control, I always know what I am doing. I have to make sure … I don’t let the emotions get the better of me, but at the same time if you are part of the front row and playing in the forward pack it is always going to be a fine line.
“Gats does what he does. The main thing for us is that we can’t lose sleep over what they are going to do. All we are focused on is preparing as best as we can and focusing on our game plan.”
Eddie Jones, the visiting head coach, is correct in saying the Principality Stadium is “not a fortress”, where England have won more than they have lost, but nowhere else inspires quite the same sense of foreboding.
Joe Launchbury, the second row, says England will relish the wall of sound. “We’ll feed off that atmosphere,” he said. “There’s nothing worse than turning up at a stadium that’s quiet.”
Then there are the other shenanigans, such as being kept waiting in the tunnel. Two years ago, England’s bus took an unexpected detour en route to the stadium, but Jones’ team made light of it to win 21-16.
‘It is wonderful to see the next generation coming through, and they need to get experiences like this’
Matt Gallagher is not even the most famous full-back in his family, but he went a step closer to becoming a notable player as Saracens climbed to the top of the Premiership table with this bonus-point win.
It did not come as easily as the scoreboard suggests for the title-holders, as they were behind at the break and only scored their third and fourth tries, through Ben Spencer and David Strettle, in the final three minutes as Leicester chased the game.
Gallagher was off the pitch by then but had done enough in his 73 minutes on it to merit the man-of-the-match award in his 27th appearance for the club. The 22-year-old, part of England’s Junior World Cup-winning squad in 2016, proved an able deputy for Alex Goode, who was shifted to fly-half, as Saracens made light of the absence of their England stars.
The full-back’s father is Lewishamborn John Gallagher, who won the World Cup with New Zealand in 1987 after qualifying for the All Blacks, and his son proved a chip off the old block here. He had a hand in Saracens’ first score and was a reliable last line of defence in a frustrating first half before putting the game to bed after the break.
No Owen Farrell, no Vunipola brothers, George Kruis, Jamie George or Maro Itoje and no problem – in the end – for Mark McCall’s side. There was no Liam Williams or Sean Maitland, either of whom could have played instead of Gallagher, who recently signed a new contract, but the youngster was given his head, in front of his father.
It is a frightening thought for the rest of the Premiership that Saracens with so many big guns missing still have a conveyor belt producing youngsters ready to step in.
Director of rugby McCall said: “We had Sean and Liam available this week but decided not to use them because these periods are crucial for us to develop players coming through the academy. It is wonderful to see that next generation coming through, and they need to get experiences like today.
“You don’t mind doing that when the young players play like they did. It was brilliant to see all of our international players here today and in the changing room after the match.
“A lot of those players now playing for England have gone through the same journey as the likes of Matt, Ben Earl and Nick Isiekwe.”
Leicester were missing Ellis Genge, Ben Youngs, Manu Tuilagi and George Ford because of the Six Nations, but one England veteran they did have on duty was Dan Cole. The prop did not do his England cause much good with a jaded display, but elsewhere Leicester fronted up and led at half-time thanks to a score from wing Jonah Holmes.
His score capped a bizarre first half which Saracens dominated in most places apart from the scoreboard, and their followers were left scratching their heads as the champions trailed 10-5 at the break.
In the first six minutes, the hosts had 93 per cent of the possession but could not convert it into points, and when Jackson Wray was caught offside, Matt Toomua’s penalty gave Leicester a barely deserved lead.
Saracens hit back with a try that could possibly have been chalked off for two forward passes. Officials seem to turn a blind eye to them these days because of the ludicrous regulation that if a player’s hands are going backwards as he passes, then it is a legitimate pass.
Saracens were grateful for that when Gallagher did a passable impression of his old man and burst through the Leicester defence before feeding Nick Isiekwe. That pass looked forward, as did the one that Isiekwe delivered to Richard Wigglesworth, allowing the veteran scrum-half to scoot home. That would normally be the cue for the floodgates to open, but Leicester, despite struggling in the scrum, would not let that happen until much later.
Holmes capitalised on a neat offload from Kyle Eastmond and a nifty step from full-back George North to stun Saracens after Leicester had been on the back foot for most of the half. But Sarries cranked it up after the break, and an Alex Lozowski penalty gave them a lead they would not relinquish.
In fact, Leicester did not score a point in the second half as Saracens went through the gears with three tries in the final quarter. Replacement hooker Tom Woolstencroft was the second scorer after Isiekwe claimed a line-out and Saracens rumbled over.
Spencer, on for Wigglesworth, intercepted a Matt Toomua pass close to the Leicester line for the third and Strettle got on the end of a long pass from the returning Michael Rhodes, after Saracens won a turnover, to secure the bonus point and top spot in the table.
“The scoreline ran away with us at the end. Saracens are good enough to do that to you,” said Leicester head coach Geordan Murphy.
“We managed the game pretty well for 60 minutes. When we got behind, we just blinked, and Saracens did well to chip away at the score and scored
two tries off our mistakes at the end.”
Scores 0-3 Toomua pen; 5-3 Wigglesworth try; 5-8 Holmes try, 5-10 Toomua con(half-time) 8-10 Lozowski pen; 11-10 Lozowski pen; 16-10 Woolstencroft try; 18-10 Goode con; 21-10 Goode pen; 26-10 Spencer try, 28-10 Goode con; 33-10 Strettle try. Saracens M Gallagher (M Malins 73); D Strettle, A Lozowski (N Tompkins 64), B Barritt (capt), A Lewington; A Goode, R Wigglesworth (B Spencer 52); R Barrington (R Adams-Hale 74), C Tolofua (T Woolsencroft 43), V Koch (T Lamositele 74), D Day (W Skelton 52), N Isiekwe, C Clark (M Rhodes 54), B Earl, J Wray. Leicester G Worth; J Holmes, G Owen (S Aspland-Robinson 71), K Eastmond (T Hardwick 76), T Varndell; M Toomua, B White (S Harrison 70); G Bateman (F Gigena 73), T Youngs (capt) (J Kerr 62), D Cole (J Heyes 73), M Fitzgerald (H Wells 62), G Kitchener, M Williams, B O’Connor (W Evans 70), S Kalamafoni. Referee T Foley.