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Leicester using league great's 'apex of pain' mantra in bid for French giant's scalp
Leicester will take Kevin Sinfield’s “apex of pain” mantra with them when they enter one of European rugby’s great cauldrons on Sunday.
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The Gallagher Premiership leaders have dominated this season’s English domestic scene, winning 17 league games and booking a play-off place with four matches still remaining.
Tigers’ attention now turns to the Heineken Champions Cup, with French heavyweights Clermont Auvergne blocking their quarter-final path.
The round-of-16 clash will be played over two legs, and Leicester head to Stade Marcel-Michelin this weekend, where Clermont boast an outstanding European record.
Leicester have lost there on three previous occasions – although they did claim a 40-27 win in 2006, when wing Tom Varndell scored four tries.
One of the key factors behind Tigers’ resurgence this term has been Sinfield’s impact as defence coach.
And Sinfield, one of the most decorated players in rugby league history who made more than 500 appearances for Leeds Rhinos, knows all about pushing himself to physical limits.
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He helped raise more than £2million from a 101-mile run from Leicester’s Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium to Headingley, on top of the £2.7m he raised after running seven marathons in seven days last December.
Sinfield’s efforts were in aid of his former Rhinos team-mate Rob Burrow, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in December 2019.
“There are all the technical things, and Kevin also talks a lot about the apex of pain and staying in there,” Leicester centre Dan Kelly said.
“That is something we are trying to engrain in us as a team in that when it’s in the fight, we stay in there longer.
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“That is something he demands from us, and it is definitely making us more resilient.
“I think that’s why we’ve had a few results, where we have just won it right at the end, and a lot of that comes down to him and his mentality.
“The apex of pain – hopefully we can stay in there longer than the opposition and hopefully we come out on top.”
Manchester-born Kelly made his England debut against Canada at Twickenham last summer, and his strong-running, tough-tackling midfield presence make him an important part of Leicester’s armoury.
“Kevin has been so good, for not just me, but the whole group. It’s the small minor details,” Kelly added.
“He is so experienced – he has played in those massive games in rugby league – and it’s just picking his brains in different scenarios and trying to layer myself as a defensive centre.
“It’s about just asking as many questions as I can. He is so good at what he does – he is such a good mentor.
“I was more than aware of Kevin as a player. I used to watch a lot of rugby league – Challenge Cup finals, the NRL and all the big games – so I know how decorated he is as a rugby league player.”
Leicester, meanwhile, will head to France’s Massif Central boosted by their England fly-half George Ford shaking off an ankle knock that he suffered at Exeter 11 days ago.
Ford is partnered at half-back by Ben Youngs, with their England colleagues Ellis Genge, Freddie Steward and Ollie Chessum also starting.
Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick said: “Clermont are an excellent side with a great balance throughout their team.
“They have a big, powerful forward pack with a very good scrum, very good maul and experienced half-backs who boss a game really well, and electric pace and power out wide in a dangerous back-line.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments