LONDON – Being knocked unconscious early in the game and missing out on last month’s World Cup final left England prop Kyle Sinckler feeling distraught and down in the dumps.
But he has since got over the disappointment, he said in an interview on Wednesday, and is delighted that his friend Siya Kolisi got to lift the trophy the title with South Africa.
Sinckler was one of England’s outstanding performers as they progressed to the final at Yokohama against the Springboks but he lasted just three minutes in the deciding game, colliding with team mate Maro Itoje during a tackle and being knocked out.
"It was an innocuous incident which was just meant to be, but it was really, really tough,” Sinckler told the Press Association.
"You ask yourself, 'why me? I've trained so hard to get to this moment. I've dreamed it, this is my life'.”
He walked off the field after regaining consciousness and watched the rest of the final from the sidelines.
"I didn't really know what was going on. I can't remember anything really from the final. They said I came back out, but I can't remember that," Sinckler said.
It left him struggling to deal with the disappointment as pre-match favourites England lost 32-12.
"It took three or four weeks to get over the final. It was dark," he said.
"You go through phases where you're distraught, feeling sorry for yourself and down in the dumps.
"But then I snapped out of it, realising that you can either be the guy who is always feeling sorry for yourself or use it as motivation to push on."
Sinckler, 26, says he is pleased the Springbok’s first black captain was able to lift the trophy in a historic moment for the game.
"If anyone was going to win the World Cup, I'm glad it was him. He's such an honourable man,” he said of Kolisi, who he had befriended on a holiday trip to Cape Town.