Sir Kev.

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Old Hob
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Sir Kev.

Post by Old Hob »

There is, today, an excellent article in The Times about Kevin Sinfield and how he nearly left Tigers after 3 days in the job.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/kevi ... -xwv0076dq
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Hot_Charlie
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by Hot_Charlie »

Sadly behind a paywall. :smt001
Old Hob
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by Old Hob »

Omnia dicta fortiora si dicta Latina
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by Old Hob »

In my first week as a Leicester Tigers coach, I left home at 4am on the Monday, worked three days straight, stayed in the city on the Monday and Tuesday nights, then drove home on the Wednesday and said to Jayne: “I’m not going back.”

I felt so exposed, thought I wasn’t capable of doing the job, decided it was too much. And I have no problem admitting it, because it’s a constructive message for others. I’d felt similarly vulnerable moving from Leeds Rhinos to Leeds Carnegie, and when starting at the Rugby Football League – being in a real job for the first time.

Feeling uncomfortable about joining the Tigers wasn’t in itself a problem. I’d wanted to take a risk. But I just felt too uncomfortable. It was too far, too much of a leap into the unknown. My only aim was to do a good job at Welford Road but now I had decided I would only let the club down, let the players down — and head coach Steve Borthwick down — by staying.

The following morning I called Steve, who was on his way to meet Eddie Jones, the England coach. I told him: “I’m not coming back.” Steve acknowledged that I appeared to have made my mind up but still wanted to talk it through. He said he would call after his meeting with Eddie.


I liked watching rugby union but didn’t fully understand it, which left me massively exposed. I’d sat in the coaches’ meeting on the Monday and Tuesday mornings and didn’t have a clue what they were on about. “What is this?” I thought. They were talking players and tactics and systems. I felt disorientated.

On the Thursday morning Steve asked me to come back on Friday morning to discuss it face to face.

I said no.

He asked me to think about it.
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Old Hob
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by Old Hob »

Mistake, duplicate - sorry.
Last edited by Old Hob on Mon May 15, 2023 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Old Hob
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by Old Hob »

A shift was already under way. Steve’s way of dealing with it was beginning to have an influence on me. It was plain he really wanted me on his coaching staff. Jayne and my mum and dad were all supportive of the decision I’d taken, though Dad did say: “You’ve never quit anything,” which rattled me, though it was said for the right reasons.

On the Friday morning, back I went, and I agreed to give it a go.

My policy was to admit to the lads when it was necessary: there are holes in my knowledge, so some bits I’ll get wrong. I framed it as a two-way street. I would be able to help them, but they’d also have to help me. I told them there might be moments when they’d want to laugh or shake their heads and ask: “What is he on about?”

They’d need to understand that my native tongue was rugby league.

Every time any union issue was discussed it might need translating. It was like learning a new language. In my head I was constantly going back and forth between the codes. I was still dreaming rugby league, while these guys were dreaming rugby union.

The breakdown, when the ball-carrier is tackled and other players fly in to join a ruck, was an esoteric new world I’d have to work to understand. And the scrum, which is a complex set of laws and techniques. Backfield play wasn’t massively different. For a while I would look at the breakdown and not know what was going on. But equally that was true for some coaches who’d worked in union for 30 or 40 years.
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Old Hob
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by Old Hob »

Steve understood from those first couple of days that he couldn’t assume everything about my knowledge. Playing for Carnegie hadn’t fully educated me in the ways of the 15-player game. But if you wanted to ask me how a tackle or a defensive system looked in league or union — I could tell you that. And I could talk plenty about attitude, how hard we’d have to work. I could give you all those bits. The intricacies were another matter.

An accountant friend in Manchester has a saying on his wall by Richard Branson: “If you get offered a job and you don’t quite know what to do, just say yeah and work it out afterwards.” That’s what I did. I thought, “I can work this out as I go along.” At least I had that understanding of defence from rugby league and had played seven months of rugby union. I was willing to graft, if the support was there.
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Old Hob
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by Old Hob »

All the coaching and support staff at Leicester were brilliant with me. There couldn’t have been a better environment to walk into. If they’d been protective, or seen me as a threat, it would have been so different, and very difficult.

Some will wonder whether they had me marked down as the next Shaun Edwards. Shaun is a Wigan legend who coached defence for Wales and France after leaving Wasps, where he worked from 2001 to 2011. He’s been hugely successful in rugby union. I hadn’t really encountered him on my travels but now it seemed a good idea to call him for background advice. We spoke for five minutes. My first impression: big Wigan accent, a jack in the box. I couldn’t take in a lot of what he said. But a second opportunity came my way. This time he was relaxed, and I absorbed every word. The second call wasn’t a long one either, but he picked my brains too, on tryline defence in rugby league — something I would try to instil at Leicester (we conceded the fewest tries in the league in 2021-22).

I might even say our defensive system at Leicester was modelled partly on Saddleworth Rangers under-15s in rugby league. Simple, stripped back. I kept being told how complicated people had made rugby union. But there are things in either code you simply have to do. You have to run hard, you have to hit hard, and you have to cover your mate’s backside.

I kept reminding myself: “This is what we’re going to do.”

Across all sports, every defensive system has flaws that can be unpicked, but how hard you work for each other, and how you cover your mate’s backside, is crucial. That’s the bit I tried hardest to get across to the Leicester lads.

That 2021-22 season, my first, produced an impressive array of results. We won 20 of our 24 games and conceded only 52 tries – eight fewer than the next best team, Saracens.

In the play-off semi-finals we beat Northampton Saints to earn a place at Twickenham against Saracens. They were formidable. George Ford, the season’s leading points-scorer, left the field after 23 minutes to be replaced by Freddie Burns, and it was Freddie’s last-minute drop-goal that earned us our first Premiership title for almost a decade.

It was odd, in the afterglow of that win, to think I might have left the club after just three days and not come back.
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TigerFeetSteve
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by TigerFeetSteve »

Hot_Charlie wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 9:47 am Sadly behind a paywall. :smt001
https://archive.is/G99TI
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by Hot_Charlie »

Thanks both. Really interesting reading. I guess even SirSuperKev can suffer with a bit of Imposter Syndrome.
JGT57
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Sir Kev

Post by JGT57 »

Smudge
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by Smudge »

I have no doubt that Kevin will be knighted before too long as he has thoroughly deserved it.
All the marathons and money raising for MND and his friend Rob can only be marvelled at.
Most of all, his dramatic carrying him over the finishing line was particularly moving for anyone with a heart.
I expect he will be honoured in the New Year's honours list of the King's birthday honours.
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AngusMcCoatup
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by AngusMcCoatup »

Well I do not believe it !!! How on earth can anyone not honour Kevin Sinfield and Rob Burrow for the magnificent achievements of bringing MND to the notice of so many, for the fantastic fundraising they have brought to research MND and build a new hospital. I really am dumbfounded as to why no recognition when several "idiots!" from Parliament qualify for lower achievements..Now we see MP Ben Bradshaw of Exeter getting Knighted and he is allegedly! does not support rugby at Sandy Park!

However I am pleased that Sarah Hunter has been recognised, probably a prompt from Catherine, Princess of Wales..

So "Sir Kevin" and Rob do not give up hope the teams and supporters are behind you and I hope your just reward is not long in coming. Daily Express keep pushing the cause.. :smt013
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by Jacko27 »

Some people don't wish to be nominated for an honour or turn it down if and when they are approached. And, as you hint, the honours system has been further devalued by some recent events.
longlivethecrumbie
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Re: Sir Kev.

Post by longlivethecrumbie »

I may be wrong, but, I think that you can't get nominated for a higher honour within a certain timeframe of being nominated for an earlier one.
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