Sirker ready for Dai’s call
IF you’ve watched Callum Sirker play rugby, it’s perhaps no surprise that the Wasps winger likes to do things quickly.
Type his name into YouTube and a highlights reel of searing nitrous oxide-like speed surges roll on for more than five minutes as defenders were left in his dust at the 2018 Premiership 7s. The guy’s got wheels.
But can he transfer that ability to terrorise defences in the 15-a-side version of the game?
Towards the end of his first season back at Wasps having spent time on the England Sevens programme, the 21-year-old was let loose on a block of four Premiership Shield fixtures with the club’s A-team.
Across four games he registered a staggering nine tries including a fabulous four against Leicester Tigers at Broadstreet RFC. Sirker’s starring role in that quartet of victories prompted many supporters to call for his inclusion in a senior squad towards the tail of the 2018/19 campaign. Dai Young understandably exercised caution and trusted the experienced duo of Josh Bassett and Marcus Watson to man the wings and steer Wasps away from troubled waters.
However, the former Harrow School pupil’s efforts earned him a first senior contract this summer, which he celebrated by scoring eight tries during the 2019 Premiership 7s as Wasps were pipped in the final by Saracens for a second successive season.
On display at the home of Northampton Saints for all to see was Sirker’s searing speed, his unique selling point, a point of difference.
A trait that runs in the family. “My dad would like to say he takes the credit for it but I think I’ve always just, you know, liked to do everything quickly,” said Sirker, whose father Amit featured on the wing for London Welsh in the 1980s. While blessed with the gift of pace, it’s a skill that requires the same attention to detail as fly-half and his goalkicking, a hooker’s lineout throwing or a scrum-half’s spin pass. Practice makes perfect.
At Wasps he can call upon the expertise of threetime Olympic bronze medallist Kelly Sotherton who focuses on running techniques and athletic performance. She was in the crowd at Franklin’s Gardens last weekend to watch Sirker and team-mates Ben Vellacott, Paolo Odogwu and Will Porter exhibit speed that would forge a formidable 4x100m relay team. “You need to work on it, it’s a skill you are given it but you have to work on it to improve it,” explained Sirker, who has also benefited from specialist help from Jonas Dodoo and Tom Farrow. “You can’t be fast every day and people forget that you can’t you can’t come in and be high speed with top GPS scores every day, hitting high-speed personal bests.
“Kelly’s job with me, she does a great job of it, is knowing when we’ve got to do our speed training when you feel good because when you feel good that’s when you get the best results out of your speed.
“If you’re not feeling good then you work on the drills work, the technical stuff. When you’re feeling good that’s when you do the high-speed stuff.”
Having scored 17 tries across the last six days he’s pulled on Black and Gold for Wasps, the club he first joined aged 11, the next challenge for a man in a hurry is on tantalisingly on the horizon.
Sirker has a strong chance of being involved against Saracens at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday when the first of four Premiership Cup rounds is played prior to the Gallagher Premiership’s return on the third weekend in October. If selected, it will give Sirker a first chance to showcase his talents in senior action for Wasps and exact some revenge on the side that prevented him from Premiership 7s glory two years running.
“It still stings now. Hopefully we can go to the Ricoh, our home ground, and do our best to get a W. Sarries are always good, they know how to win a game, that is for sure, I’m really looking forward to it.
He added: “It’s my responsibility, if I get given that opportunity from Dai, it is my responsibility to take it. If I don’t, then that’s on me. I do like that, I thrive on that, and I feel like when I do get that opportunity, I’ll back myself to take it.
“I don’t think you can be in this position, in this job, if you don’t like the pressure. All these guys like the pressure, the big crowds, the big spectacles, I am pretty excited for the opportunity when it does come.”
If given the nod by his director of rugby, don’t be surprised if Sirker flies out of the blocks to seize his chance.
Kelly’s job with me, she does a great job of it, is knowing when we’ve got to do our speed training. Callum Sirker