I want to see Sinckler snarling and dishing out verbals to Wales
► While prop has learnt to control his famous temper, it is crucial that he does not lose his energy in Cardiff
There are five things that make Kyle Sinckler such an influential player for England. The first is set-piece. He is not the finished article but has become an international-class scrummaging tighthead. That means, like another 2017 British and Irish Lion in Tadhg Furlong of Ireland, he can lock down a scrum.
The second is his dynamism. He is an extra ball-carrier – and not in the sense that he could carry if the ball comes near him, which is the case for a lot of props. He hunts the ball and wants to hit lines, being confrontational on the gain line. England’s intent against Italy was far better than it was against Scotland, and I think a lot of that was down to Mako Vunipola, Luke Cowan-dickie and, especially, Kyle. Those carries are not glamorous, either. Often, it is a case of, “Run into those three guys and try to generate quick ball for us”.
His soft hands are the third thing, which provide a foil for his explosiveness and grunt. He can offload, and is a smart player – a thinking tighthead prop. The fourth thing is that he is a defensive machine and the fifth, which is potentially the most important, is that he is an energy-giver.
When you are on the club grind and playing Test matches for England it is hard to be emotionally invested in every game. That may be difficult for some people to get their head around, but sometimes you just get through matches. You admit: “I was a bit rubbish today.”
You cannot peak every weekend, and everyone who has played at that level will understand that. But when I was emotionally invested, I felt powerful. Although people question my rap sheet, I would justify it by saying that I forged a good career out of the game and got it wrong eight times over 16 years. That is not too bad, and I am happy that I played the way I did because of what it brought me.
One way I would compare myself, loosely, with Kyle is in the fact that I was far better when I was emotionally invested. I think Kyle is the same. If you asked him not to get involved with any “needle”, you would not see the same player. It might not even be worth having him in the team.
I would always want the version of Kyle that was playing on the edge, giving out verbals to the opposition and wholly invested. He will be fully aware that Wales may try to wind him up, as they did last time England were in Cardiff for a Six Nations game in 2019.
If he shows a couple of chinks, the floodgates can open, so he has to bat away the first couple of nibbles. If Alun Wyn Jones is spending his time attempting to put Kyle off his game, and it is not working, then the Wales captain will not be playing well himself.
Kyle giving away a couple of penalties and then being replaced was a subplot of England’s capitulation in 2019. I cannot see it being a central theme of the game this time because he is two years older and wiser.
When any player is being targeted in any game, it becomes a subplot. When we toured Australia in 2016, the Wallabies loved that niggle. We did not quite have a “99” call, but we always said we would win that game within the game. We said our energy would never be lower than theirs. And they hated it.
If they wanted to push and shove, we were going to do that too – as long as we did not lose it by punching someone and picking up a card. That is what those handbags are always about, players not wanting to seem subservient or give away an energy win. Fittingly, that trip to Australia was Kyle’s first
If Alun Wyn Jones is spending time trying to put Kyle off, he won’t be playing well himself
with England. Neither he nor Ellis Genge played, but Eddie Jones pumped their tyres up in training every day.
Even if the session was a walk-through, he would be whispering in their ears, pitting them against each other and making sure they kept the intensity up and kept the rest of us honest.
The reason we were so successful on that tour was because of the effort of those outside matchday squads. Everyone was on their toes constantly.
If something sparks this weekend, you can guarantee that England’s players will be around Kyle and backing him up … unless they are winning by 20 points, when they will just walk away from the situation laughing.
Kyle gets things wrong, but he gets far more right. I think we tend to concentrate more on the former. We should concentrate more on what Kyle brings to the team, and the most important box to tick is for him to be himself. When he is bringing his own personality to the game, you get those five things and all that energy.
In 2011, Warren Gatland made a load of comments about me before we travelled to play Wales. In fairness, they had some grounding in fact. I remember being at our training camp in Portugal when he said them, and I took it personally. I almost wanted to thank him, because it made me think: “I have 14 days until I am in Cardiff, I’d better brush up and be ready.”
He suggested my line-out throwing went to pot under pressure, so I drilled it twice a day and left no stone unturned. I went into that game better prepared mentally than I ever had been and we won 26-19.
Kyle is a modern athlete with a growth mindset and takes care of himself. He might not even be thinking about what happened in 2019. His nickname is “The Daddy”, and that is what he will want to be like against Wales. He will want to run the show.