Sport: Kevin SINFIELD
Try Hard
He’s a super league skipper and England international but Kevin Sinfield still has some lessons to learn
by Niel Squires
Flying is in Kevin Sinfield’s blood – his brother-in-law is a pilot for Jet2. While his own travel plans for this season include a trip to Australia with England to contest the Rugby League World Cup, the mission Down Under is pencilled, rather than inked, into his diary.
As the resolute captain of the Super League champions, Leeds Rhinos’ calm controller should be able to pre-book his seat now. He has the strength of character and physique, as well as a natural authority and a reliable boot which is pushing him on towards 2,000 points for the club he made his debut for as a fresh-faced 16-year-old.
Yet despite scoring a hat-trick for England against Russia as a babe-in-arms at the last World Cup in 2000, international rugby league has never been plain sailing for Sinfield. Brian Noble always had reservations, leaving him out of the Great Britain squad in 2004 and 2006, and although his former Leeds coach Tony Smith restored him last year against New Zealand, even he dropped Sinfield for the Third Test.
Stripping Great Britain down to its constituent parts to expand the list of World Cup entrants has not weakened the competition for the loose forward jersey, however, and bitter experience has taught Sinfield not to get ahead of himself.
“That is all in the past now and I want to look forward. There are other players who are improving but hopefully I will improve enough so that the coach doesn’t really have a choice and has to pick me this time,” he says.
“To play in a World Cup in another country is a massive carrot in front of every English player, but the reality is that you can’t look too far ahead. Unless my club form is good enough I won’t be going.
“It is a massively important tournament for the sport and it is an ambition of mine to play in it. The international game is something that has let rugby league down in the past, but the players want international rugby league and hopefully this time it will be a successful World Cup.
“Rival sports like football and cricket have their own World Cups and we’ve just seen a great rugby union World Cup so I think there is certainly room for a rugby league version.”
SINFIELD HAS plenty of opportunities to prove himself indispensable before October’s tournament. Following on from the World Club Challenge, Leeds continue their defence of the Super League trophy – won in emphatic style against St Helens at Old Trafford – and start out on the Wembley trail in April when the big guns enter the Challenge Cup.
It is a busy season for Sinfield. There is a testimonial year, an expanding young family and the completion of a five-year part-time degree in Sport and Exercise
Science at Leeds Metropolitan University. As part of his BSc, he has researched and conducted a study into the merits or otherwise of a revolutionary vibrating bed in reducing post-match infl ammation for athletes. Good for improving recovery time; bad for a morning cup of tea, presumably.
COMMENDABLE though Sinfield’s decision to forego the usual sportsman’s qualification in Playstation Management to exercise his grey cells may be, he admits it requires precise time management to cram it all in.
“Coming up to games I would never stay up late, but early in the week if I have an assignment I’ll settle down to start work at 9.30 and before you know it, it’s after midnight. Sometimes I’m still going at three in the morning. I’m just like any mature student trying to find time to study,” he says.
“At times it has been tough balancing the workload and the family but I have really enjoyed it and have great support at home from my wife, Jayne. Hopefully it will pay dividends in the future.”
Sinfield has always appeared wise beyond his years – he assumed the Leeds captaincy at 22 – but becoming a father three-and-a-half years ago helped him develop a broader, longer-term outlook.
“Rugby changed with having a young family,” he says. “From the moment we had Jack I had to start leaving rugby stuff at the door. He needed his daddy, not this guy filled with rugby 24/7. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t swap my job for any other job in the world – I love it so much – but it is a job now.”
This year’s testimonial, which included a match against his home-town club Oldham, will help secure his family’s future.
“A lot of footballers at the top level have the luxury of giving their testimonial money to a charity because they don’t need it, but in rugby league, while we earn a good wage, there’s a massive difference,” he says.
“I’m very lucky to have a testimonial at 27. I see myself playing for another four or five quality years but in rugby league you put your body on the line for 10 years and by the end of it you are pretty mashed up.”
There is a queue for testimonials at Leeds because of the success of their academy system, which unearthed their present golden generation. The boys have become men and the Rhinos have been the beneficiaries.
“Manchester United 10 years ago was the model for everybody with the likes of Scholes, Giggs, Beckham and the Neville brothers coming through together. It has been fantastic for them and has worked the same for us,” says Sinfield. “In the past, Leeds were big spenders and weren’t really interested in promoting from within but in my time here I couldn’t praise the club enough in how they have brought players through the ranks.
“People who have come through the academy understand the culture of the club and we are also good friends. I am sure that plays a part in the success.”
The familiarity breeds a dressing room humour which would make for a good northern sit-com, he reckons, along the lines of his own favourites The Royle Family and Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights. Rob Burrow, the diminutive scrum-half and sharp wit, would be the script writer; Sinfield inevitably director.
Mention the Challenge Cup, though, and the laughs soon dry up. Leeds may have won two grand finals in the past four seasons but it was 1999 when the Rhinos last lifted the grand old pot. International goals are on the horizon with England but this is an itch that has to be scratched first for Sinfield.
“I would be lying if I said the chance to play at the new Wembley in front of 90,000 people didn’t interest me. Being back there is enough to get anybody going. I’ve played in two Challenge Cup finals in Cardiff and lost them both so maybe it’s time to try somewhere else.”
SINFIELD ON:
THE SALARY CAP
“It could never work in football because the players have too much power, but, with my rugby league fan’s hat on, it has done a great job for our sport. Anybody can beat anybody.”
TEETOTALISM
“I had a few drinks when we won the Grand Final last year but it’s not something I really enjoy. I’m sociable but I feel I can do it without falling over.”
“I would be lying if I said the chance to play at the new Wembley in front of 90,000 people didn’t interest me”
RUGBY UNION
“I recently signed a new four-year deal with Leeds and I’m happy to spend the rest of my career here, but seeing how well some of the league guys have done in union and the union guys in league, I would love to have a go.”
BED TIME
“I can’t get to sleep on Friday night because of all the adrenaline from the match, so I can be in bed by 7pm on a Saturday.”
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