Sinckler grateful for every England opportunity
Kyle Sinckler is enjoying every moment of his second World Cup campaign as an England player.
The Bristol Bears tight-head prop featured in all of England's games at the 2019 edition of the tournament in Japan and started in the final against South Africa in Yokohama.
It's fair to say a lot has changed for Sinckler over the four years that have passed. He went on to make Bristol his home club in 2020 after nine years with Harlequins, and earned a second call-up to the British & Irish Lions squad in 2021.
The 30-year-old now has over 60 England caps under his belt and is enjoying every opportunity afforded to him in an England jersey.
"I've got a massive amount of gratitude and appreciation to be here at a second World Cup," said Sinckler. "I remember watching the 2015 tournament at a Harlequins social sat next to Adam Jones, who had just joined us at the club. We were watching England in their opening game and he was just trying to enjoy a quiet pint. I was chewing his ear off about just how much I wanted to be in the England squad."
"I was saying to him: 'I want to get there. I know I can play for England', and he'd reply with 'You'll get there, you'll be fine. Just keep listening to me.' To go from that moment in 2015 to now, sitting here at my second World Cup, is something I'm hugely grateful for. I'm honoured to be able to play and be a part of this group."
Steve Borthwick's men have a quarter-final spot secured with a game left to play, but Sinckler insists that remaining focused on their final pool game against Samoa is vital.
"One thing I've learned from big Test matches is to just be focused on the now. I know that for us as a squad, the focus is just on the Samoa game. We don't want to look too far ahead because the moment you take your eye off the ball, that's when you can get in a bit of trouble. The last few games have gone well for us but our focus is on the job in hand."
England opened their World Cup account with a 27-10 victory over Michael Cheika's Argentina, before going on to beat Japan and Chile to top pool D.
"Our warmup games were disappointing, but my experience of warmup games is that it's about finding your feet and getting minutes. As soon as we landed in Le Touquet we were ready to go. Our training and energy ramped up, we felt better within ourselves and had this air of confidence about us.
"That's down to the preparation that we've done. As a squad we're very focused on what's important to us. It's great that people are believing in us, but from day one we've always had that belief in ourselves."
