Sinckler reflects on 'crazy' B&I Lions call-up

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Kyle Sinckler said the past month has been an emotional rollercoaster after originally missing out on selection in the British & Irish Lions squad before being called up for the tour to South Africa at the weekend.

The 27-year-old England prop revealed he was last to learn of Lions head coach Warren Gatland's decision to call him up after Ireland's Andrew Porter had to withdraw due to a toe injury.

Sinckler has had his run-ins with Gatland although he toured New Zealand with the Lions under the Kiwi in 2017 when they drew 1-1 in an epic three Test series with the then World Cup winners.

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"It's been crazy," said Sinckler.

"It's been a month since the announcement, the emotion from not getting selected, doing the [newspaper] interview [when he said he was distraught], and then obviously getting selected again, life's crazy, isn't it?

"When I didn't get selected it wasn't like, 'Oh my God, what are they doing?'

"I didn't want to fall into that and feel sorry for myself."

Sinckler said the reason the backroom staff at his Premiership club Bristol Bears knew before he did was because Gatland was behind the times.

"When Gats called me he said he'd tried to call on Saturday but he had my wrong number," said Sinckler.

"He had my number from four years ago but I've changed it, so they all knew before me.

"When I came in I spoke to Kev Geary [Bristol's head of athletic performance] and Rory Murray [head of medical services] and they looked at me like, 'You didn't know?'

"How am I the last to know about this?"

Sinckler said he had tried to use the disappointment of missing out on initial selection as a spur in the final weeks of the English Premiership season as Bristol bid to be crowned champions.

Sinckler lost out on a place in the original squad due to being one of several players who under-performed for England in an underwhelming Six Nations title defence which saw them finish second from bottom.

"I was very emotional," he said of being omitted.

"I just had to harness it and try to put it into my rugby.

"I was distraught, I was so disappointed within myself to not make it to the initial squad, but I got over that."

In the 37-man party, Sinckler will compete for the tighthead prop start with Ireland's Tadhg Furlong and Scotland's Zander Fagerson.

The Lions assemble in Jersey on June 13 to begin preparations for a warm-up match against Japan at Murrayfield on June 26.

They then travel to South Africa for an eight-match tour culminating with three Tests against the world champion Springboks in Cape Town on July 24 and then in Johannesburg on July 31 and August 7.