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What Kyle Sinckler said to Owen Farrell directly after his game-changing try

By Online Editors
Kyle Sinckler and Kurtley Beale

Kyle Sinckler had a very propish request for Owen Farrell after scoring the try that swept England out of danger and into the World Cup semi-finals at Australia’s expense.

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The Wallabies had fought back from 17-6 down to trail by a single point, only for Sinckler to pick a clever line onto Owen Farrell’s flat pass before showing his athleticism to race over in the 46th minute.

It was a turning point in England’s seventh successive win against Australia and the prop’s finest moment in a Red Rose jersey compelled coach Eddie Jones to compare him to a “runaway rhino”.

Adding to the significance was that Sinckler’s mum Donna was sat in the Oita Stadium stands to witness the 40-16 triumph.

“My mum came out, so she was happy. I saw her in the crowd, she was pretty emotional,” said Sinckler, who was brought up on a tough south London estate.

(Continue reading below…)

“It’s been a long journey for me and her. A long, long journey. It’s good to see my mum out here, I’ve done her proud.

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“On a personal level it was very special. Something we work hard on in training and something I try to bring to the party is my ball-carrying ability. It was quite nice that it all fell into plan.

“I was knackered afterwards. I said to Owen ‘take the minute-and-a-half for the conversion’ because I needed the rest!. That was a tough, tough Test match. Now we move on to next week.”

Fifteen minutes later and Sinckler was responsible for another key moment by ripping the ball from number eight Isi Naisarani as Australia launched a sustained assault.

“They were pounding away for ages. Their forwards were coming hard, I saw an opportunity and I backed myself and luckily it came off. It was a big part of my game,” Sinckler said.

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“Fair play to Australia, that was hard graft, especially the first 20 minutes. They came out of the blocks flying and some of their forwards ran really, really hard.

“It was testament to us as a team and one of our biggest things is togetherness and how tight we are as a squad.

“It’s something we’ve consciously worked on for the past few months and you saw it today.

“Sticking to the plan, sticking to the process, always having belief in ourselves, belief in our coaches.

“After their try we stepped up the gears on our defence and our attack and we got the result.”

The scrum was a key battleground in which both teams enjoyed victories and defeats.

One series of reset scrums early in the match ended with Australia hooker Silatolu Latu patting Sinckler on the head in an attempt to wind him up.

“That’s something I’ve really tried to own….my discipline and just being cool in the moment and that comes with experience,” said the tighthead, who is known for his combustible temperament.

“You’re going to have good scrums and bad scrums, or scrums where you don’t agree with the decision. It’s Test match rugby so you just have to get on with it.

“It’s always going to be that way, especially when you’re at tighthead. You get the rub of the green sometimes and other times you don’t.

“Australia have improved a lot in their scrum and our job as a front row was to keep going at them, keep going at them.

“Every scrum, don’t take a backwards step, no matter what the refereeing decision was. You saw in the end that we got our reward. We took their legs away.

“Fair play to Australia, they have improved a lot in that area but as an England pack we pride ourselves on our scrum.”

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Adrian 1 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

9 Go to comments
T
Trevor 4 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
B
Bull Shark 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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