Will Carling has defended Kyle Sinckler after his ill-discipline contributed to England’s second-half collapse in their 21-13 defeat by Wales.
Sinckler gave away successive penalties at a key stage of the Guinness Six Nations title showdown as a 10-3 interval lead ebbed away, a late hit on Gareth Anscombe and choke hold on Alun Wyn Jones resulting in referee Jaco Peyper’s intervention.
For the previous 56 minutes the Harlequins prop was magnificent and England’s best player alongside Tom Curry, but with evidence that the “emotional timebomb” described by Warren Gatland was about to detonate, Eddie Jones replaced him.
Sinckler’s short fuse was identified as a weakness by Gatland during the build-up to the Principality Stadium collision and new leaders Wales duly exploited it, although the blame for defeat spread far wider than the tighthead’s indiscipline.
“Kyle Sinckler a cheap target by some pundits. Man was amazing in defence 1st half,” said Carling, England’s leadership mentor, on Twitter.
“He was a huge target for the Welsh, no issue with that, but he is fast maturing and learning to keep his edge (which I love) and maintaining control. The man is going to be awesome.”
Cast as the pantomime villain, Sinckler was booed from the pitch but on tackle count alone he made a destructive impact on a dramatic Test that hung in the balance until Cory Hill drove over in the 68th minute.
Jones has appealed for perspective over the combustible 25-year-old, stating “he’s a young player on the way up. Look after him a bit, hey”, and for Mark Wilson an enthralling Test was lost elsewhere.
