THE TEACHER
Stacia Long helped a teenage
Sinckler to set up a rugby team at
Graveney School in South London“Kyle was one of three or four boys in his
year group who played rugby outside of
school and were keen to set up a school
team. I told them I didn’t know anything
about rugby so wouldn’t be much use
from a coaching perspective, but Kyle
said, ‘That’s fine. Me and the boys will
sort that if you can find fixtures and get
us there’. He would have been about 13
and what struck me was his willingness
and ability to overcome problems.
“We didn’t have enough boys from
one year group, so we’d choose boys
from the year below. Then more kids
got interested and rugby in the school
started to grow. We saw turnarounds in
behaviour because they had an outlet;they could be physical on the rugby
pitch rather than the playground.
“We didn’t have a pitch on site so we’d
play matches against other state schools
on public parks or at rugby clubs. We
did a bit of training, but only on a 30m
by 40m bit of grass and not very often.
It was things like learning to tackle
safely. Kyle did a lot of that – the boys
who could play helped others.
“He would flit between positions
in games. He’d start at fly-half and
then there would be a scrum and
he’d think, ‘I could be useful here’.
So he’d go to prop and then back
to fly-half. Playing multiple positions
helped develop his game
understanding and ability to bring
others into the game. He had a
good skill-set for someone of his
shape and size. He’d have been
used as a battering ram by some
schools but he couldn’t afford to belike that for us. I switch on the TV now,
see his soft hands and think, ‘That’s the
Kyle I know. That’s what he’d do for us’.
“Rugby is his love, his passion, and
what stood out for me was he knew
where he wanted to get to and would
make sacrifices to do it. He showed
such maturity. All his friends would go
to parties on a Friday night, but he’d be
getting ready for a game on Sunday. It
showed how important
rugby was to him.
“The media have
given him this
reputation as the bad
boy of English rugby.
People talk about
him losing control,
but I think it’s a fine
balance of a young
man pumped up to
be as physical and
aggressive as he can,A rugby all-rounder
Sinckler has improved scrum-wise
and has skills from his days as a backPICS
Getty Images & Inpho
EnglandFACT FILE
Age 26 (30 Mar 1993)
Born Wandsworth
Club Harlequins
Position Tighthead
Height 6ft
Weight 17st 11lb
England caps 22
Lions caps Three
Twitter @KyleSinckler