Paris (AFP)

Totally knocked out, the English pillar Kyle Sinckler had left his teammates unarmed in the final of the lost World Cup against South Africa in Japan. Sunday, he is back in France as holder to wear the XV de la Rose again in the Six Nations Tournament.

Sinckler is perhaps the only Englishman who does not have a bad memory of November 2, 2019. Because of this largely lost 32-12 match against the Springboks, he does not remember anything. Out, standing but clearly sounded, from the second minute, he will say later that it took "three or four weeks" to recover from this "black hole".

All the other Englishmen remember very well the result: without the one that many consider to be the best right pillar of the world, the men of the coach Eddie Jones disunite and fall at the foot of the South African wall.

To instill "absolute brutality" and "ensure that (the French) understand what rugby is", as he recalled again on Friday, the Australian Jones will count on Sunday on his chief blaster Sinckler, return from another back injury.

In Twickenham last year during the heavy defeat of the Blues (44-8), the right pillar had also shown his French counterparts that he followed the instructions of his coach to the letter. Arthur Iturria and his ripped helmet still remember it.

- "Time bomb" -

This nervous gesture had earned the Harlequins player the nickname "time bomb" from former Welsh coach Warren Gatland.

But it would necessarily be reductive to sum up Sinckler at 1.83 m and 113 kilos of brutality: it is above all a modern pillar, a forward blaster, capable of going beyond the classic low jobs of this position by its liveliness, its explosiveness and even by its pass quality.

Arrived at the beginning of January in the English staff, the new front coach Matt Proudfoot, world champion as assistant coach of the Springboks, immediately put Sinckler at the center of his project.

"I want him to say what he wants me to do to be the best in the world," Proudfoot recently told the British press. How can I make him the best in the world? What does he want from me? Does he need a kick in the ass? What does he need every day? I will not stop until he is the best in the world " .

At the Stade de France, the 26-year-old, who has already signed to Bristol for next season, will have another opportunity to prove that he is the best at his job. With his 31 selections, he has in any case accumulated more international experience than the whole of the first tricolor line (Mohamed Haouas 0 selections, Julien Marchand 2 selections, Cyril Baille 17 selections).

With his alter-ego on the left Joe Marler and Jamie George in the heel, the Blues are warned: there will be a fight.

A fight is a bit like this that Sinckler presented, moreover, last year in the press his childhood in the southern suburbs of London: "Where I come from, many things happen like knife attacks, things like that. (The local kids) are bored, they have nothing to do. "

As a child, Sinckler devoted a lot of time to sport: rugby, football, cricket, weightlifting or kick-boxing, he was "always busy" with this outlet. "Many children have not had a chance" to get by thanks to rugby, he assured, grateful to his mother who enrolled him in a club.

On Eddie Jones' appetite for hard play? "Do you think Eddie is a hell of a customer? She (my mother) put me back in place."

© 2020 AFP