England's Kyle Sinckler exorcised 2019 demons in Six Nations Cardiff comeback
Kyle Sinckler sat on steps in the Principality Stadium, head bowed, struggling to process his emotions.
Outside, a burst of Swing Low could be heard from an England fan disappearing into the Cardiff night.
Sinckler had scored the try which set Steve Borthwick’s team up for England’s biggest win in Wales since 2003.
He thought back four years to feeling humiliated in the same arena, wound up then branded a liability. For a good few seconds he didn’t know whether to smile or cry.
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"It was a very pivotal moment not only in my career but my life,” said the bearded prop. “Looking back on the experience I had in 2019 my career could have gone one of two ways. I’m not going to lie, I had some demons coming back to the Principality.
"I remember sitting on these stairs in floods of tears, on the phone to my mum. I know we were playing Wales but for me it was a Test match between who I am now versus the person I was in 2019.”
Reasons to remember this Test match are few and far between. Freddie Steward’s masterclass under the high ball is one, the fact it was played at all given Wales’ threat of strike action, another.
Kyle Sinckler hailed himself "a different person" compared to the player who was criticised in Cardiff four years ago (Simon King/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)But the one that really stands out is how Sinckler heeded the advice of his mentor that, “it’s you versus you - and you have to beat your old self.”
The Bristol star admitted: “That game in 2019 was one of the hardest days of my life and there was all the social media abuse which went with it.”
It hit him so hard that as the England team bus crossed the Bridge on Friday he suffered a physical reaction. “Literally adrenaline, it was fight or flight,” he said. “My stomach turning, shortness of breath. Walking up these stairs I remembered back to the abuse I received.”
He recalled Wales coach Warren Gatland branding him an “emotional timebomb”, Alun Wyn Jones poking and prodding him until he exploded. He was hauled off and England gave up a winning position.
How sweet, then, that both were on hand to feel the Sinckler backlash as England stayed in the title race and winless Wales closed in on a first Wooden Spoon for 20 years.
“It’s been a journey,” he said. “I was a totally different person back then. I had a lot of anger and resentment towards a lot of people.
“I was targeted that day but felt I let a lot of people down. They won due to my ill-discipline and how I conducted myself on the field."
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Sinckler cruised over for a crucial score amid a mess of bodies (The RFU Collection via Getty Ima)Sinckler’s payback could not have been better timed, coming in the same third quarter that he lost his head in 2019. Better still, Wales had just ahead through Louis Rees-Zammit’s interception and a full house believed a fairy tale ending to one of the darkest weeks in Welsh rugby history beckoned.
Maro Itoje won a lineout, Ellis Genge peeled, England ran it up the guts and Sinckler went over. “This is a tough place to come,” he said, smiling at last. “A cauldron, an old-school colosseum. But we didn’t capitulate under the pressure, we walked towards it."
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