Tragic that Trinder’s magic failed to find favour

THERE are many players for whom the road not taken is an interesting hypothetical journey to contemplate and Gloucester’s Henry Trinder certainly comes into that category.

Along with a slightly earlier regular in the Gloucester midfield – Anthony Allen – Trinder was as good an England prospect at centre as I can recall over the last 15 years or so, yet in representative terms it worked out for neither.

With Allen it was a case of being blooded too early by Andy Robinson in 2006 – Gloucester coach Dean Ryan loudly warned at the time that it was probably too early – and then being discarded and ignored by subsequent coaches when he was in fact a much more complete player than when first capped against the All Blacks.

As for Trinder, it was largely a succession of injuries at key moments in his career that thwarted a player with dazzling feet and enough gas to start his career on the wing.

Many good judges rated him highly, not least Brian O’Driscoll who always sang his praises, but invariably injury struck at the precise moment he was forcing his way into England contention. The nearest he came was 2014 when he played for an England XV against a particularly strong and no-nonsense Barbarians XV and lost 39-29. Interestingly both Ollie Devoto and Dave Ewers played that day and have also failed to find selectorial favour in the years that followed.

You suspect that both Allan and Trinder, in the ultimate analysis, were considered too light for the thud and thump of midfield duties at Test level which is a shame because both could have lit the place up and taken England in another direction.

Trinder now heads to Vannes – going great guns in Pro D2 – to start a new chapter in his career leaving Gloucester fans with a brilliant highlights reel to contemplate 45 tries in 162 matches, many of them crackers. The best for me was his long-range effort against Exeter in the last regular season game of 2013.

It’s an assist I remember most fondly, though, back in 2017 when he jinked his way up field from long range against Worcester under the Kingsholm lights, swapped passes and then sent Billy Twelvetrees in under the posts with a magical nolook over-the- shoulder pass.

As BT Sport’s Nick Mullins commented at the time: “Billy Twlvetrees with the score and Henry Trinder playing like Harry Potter.” If it had been Beaden Barrett we would have been eulogizing the guy for months but in England such talent is still treated with suspicions.