Kevin Sinfield made his first appearance in rugby union yesterday, and was quickly getting stuck in.
Leeds Rhinos’ most successful ever captain returned to his old stomping ground, but instead of wearing blue and amber he donned the colours of Yorkshire Carnegie as they defeated an Ospreys select side 32-10.
Sinfield came on after 65 minutes to a rapturous applause and scored a penalty goal to extend Carnegie’s lead.
Kevin Sinfield’s first points for Yorkshire Carnegie makes it 27-10 with 9 mins to go pic.twitter.com/uj6SAzkNJU
— Yorkshire Carnegie (@carnegierugby) November 15, 2015
The match was moved to Headingley at short notice, with the original venue for the match, Huddersfield YMCA, badly waterlogged and deemed unplayable.
However it made the experience even sweeter for Sinfield, who admitted that he had liked the experience.
“I enjoyed it,” Sinfield told BBC Radio Leeds.
“I’m looking forward to my next outing. The lads have been great ever since the first training session.
“Out on the field today I felt very much at home, especially with it being at Headingley. I’m so glad the game was here.
“I’ve just wanted to play since the minute I joined, but I realised that you can’t just be thrown out there because it’s pretty dangerous. You never quite know until you play, but it felt good and I enjoyed it.
“I was aware that I would have limited minutes today so that probably helped. When I stood up to go on I could feel the nerves jingling, but I quite like that because it shows it means a lot to me. And it does, I want to help the lads and help the team achieve something.”
Following the alleged treatment of Sam Burgess in the 15-man code, plenty of scrutiny will be focused on Sinfield’s arrival to the sport, however he revealed that he has been made to feel welcome.
“They’ve (the players) been brilliant, every single one of them have made me feel welcome,” he said.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with each and every one of them, even the younger boys, it’s been great to get to know them. Hopefully that will continue to grow, I spent the weekend with the boys in Bedford last weekend and being in and around the boys gives me chance to build those friendships, trust and honesty you need out on the field.”
