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The thing Kevin Sinfield enjoys most about his changed England role
By Liam Heagney
Kevin Sinfield has explained the aspect he enjoys most working with England in a different role during the current Guinness Six Nations. The legendary rugby league player was appointed defence coach when Steve Borthwick succeeded Eddie Jones as head coach for last year’s championship.
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England endured quite a bit of pain getting used to their new system under Sinfield, conceding 30 tries in their initial nine games. Their cover plan eventually stuck during the Rugby World Cup, a campaign in France that culminated in a bronze medal finish.
However, the arrival of Felix Jones into the England set-up from the tournament-winning Springboks resulted in Sinfield relinquishing his responsibilities as the defence coach.
He is instead currently working as skills and kicking, but that revised role will end following the summer tour to Japan and New Zealand and he will then leave the Borthwick staff.
Having begun their latest Six Nations campaign with two successive wins for the first time since 2019, England hosted an open training session on Friday in front of 10,000 fans at Twickenham and Sinfield took a short break to tell a live edition of England Rugby O2 Inside Line what he has enjoyed most about his revised role.
Six Nations
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Ireland
2
2
0
0
10
2
England
2
2
0
0
8
3
Scotland
2
1
1
0
5
4
France
2
1
1
0
4
5
Wales
2
0
2
0
3
6
Italy
2
0
2
0
1
“I like working with the nines and 10s,” he said before former England skipper Dylan Hartley asked about coaching kicking to the front-rowers. “Not really. Ellis (Genge) is really keen to put a kick in now and again but hopefully you have seen we started the session with some team handling, we expect everybody to be able to catch and pass properly.
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“It’s been a big part of the philosophy of where we are taking the team. Hopefully, you’ll see some front rowers passing today and carrying, but it’s important that every players has a good skill set.
“We try and identify some areas within players’ games that we feel we can get improvements to either help them individually or help the team.
“So some of that has been a collective approach on catch and pass and then I work closely with the goal kickers, do a bit with our strategy on kicking, nines and 10s in particular.
“How we implement a kick, what it looks like, how we use it when we have got a left-footer in the team, how do we use that the best – we have got a full-back [Freddie Steward] who has got a big boot, how do we use that?
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“There is a bit of strategy in there but it has been really enjoyable. I work closely with Felix and Richard (Wigglesworth, attack coach) on that and obviously with Steve. We have got Andrew Strawbridge with us as well, who is very big on his skill acquisition stuff. These last few weeks have been really enjoyable for us.”
It will be mid-July, following the second Test versus the All Blacks in Auckland, when Sinfield’s year-and-a-half involvement with England will end. He insisted he would walk away with only good things to say. “I have loved it; it has just been a wonderful experience,” he explained.
“Days like today [the opening training session] when you see what England rugby is about, it has never been lost on me. You can represent your country at anything but it’s the pinnacle to be involved with the players, the relationships and friendships I have got from the playing group, that has been the most important thing for me.
“I finished my playing career, I don’t remember any of the medals or the trophies we won but what was important was the people I shared time with and continue to do. I hope that will be the same here. I love representing England rugby and I have only got good things to say.”
