Sinfield: I’m well aware nobody likes us!

KEVIN SINFIELD is approaching his first Six Nations well aware of the animosity towards England which is such a staple feature of the tournament — having even encountered it while doing charity work.

The new defence coach of the national team has raised more than £7million for motor neurone disease, in support of his good friend and former team-mate Rob Burrow. In the course of his sterling feats, running vast distances, he got to know ex-Scotland and Lions lock Doddie Weir, before his death in November after a courageous battle with MND — and spent time with members of the rugby establishment north of the border.

One by- product of those interactions was that he realised the strength of feeling against the ‘auld enemy’, which is shared by the other Celtic nations and, to a degree, by the French as well.

‘ I spent time with some Scottish internationals over the last couple of years through some tragic circumstances — and it’s not lost on me how much there’s a dislike for us,’ he said, matterof-factly. ‘I understand that — and that it’s quite common across the other nations as well.’

He might have come from rugby league but Sinfield knows that this is the nature of the tribal event he is now a part of. ‘I love this competition — I always have,’ he said. ‘I’ve always been a rugby union fan. I love the sport. There’s nothing better than being sat at home on a weekend and watching the games.

‘There are some real heroes of mine in that 2003 team. What those guys did is incredible. I can’t wait for it.’

And will Sinfield use the dislike of opponents as a motivational tool? ‘I don’t just think it’s powerful defensively, it’s powerful right the way across,’ he said.

‘But if we think that we’re going to get a team ready to play because the opposition don’t like us… I think it’s much deeper and more powerful than that. We want to win games because we want to represent our country the right way. We want the country to get behind us. We want to see this place full of white shirts. If we’re going to get more kids playing our sport, it’s got to be much deeper than building a game-plan around teams hating us.’

Having conceded that Owen Farrell needs to change his tackling habits, Sinfield emphasised that the England captain’s example should be seen as a positive.

‘I think it’s quite refreshing that we’ve got a 10 who wants to put his body on the line and wants to be physical,’ he added. ‘ It’s a great message for our younger players around the country. He wants to tackle. The challenge for us — across the squad — is to ensure that we don’t cross that line.’