The passion James Tincknell (right), has for the community game is clear from first meeting him as he himself says, “it is important to understand that the amateur game underpins the professional and it needs to be nurtured”. The 31 year old outside centre, currently plays for national one side Hull Ionians, “having played professionally and been in an all-consuming environment it’s just nice to now play as a hobby, as a release and for the enjoyment.” It was this new found love of the game that saw him pull on the white rose of Yorkshire jersey once more during the 18/19 season and earned him a place on the recent England Counties tour to Georgia “it’s not an opportunity you turn down, you take it and enjoy the experience. Tours like these are something special and different. They are also the carrot that many people need to keep people going after a long season.”
The future of England Counties has been a hot topic over recent months with many fearing it will soon fall victim to the funding cuts being imposed by the RFU, “it would be such a shame to see it go. I have been lucky enough to play in a couple of the tours, including Canada ten years ago and it is something so special to be part of; it’s an aspiration for so many players and to see it go would be very sad.”
With these words ringing in our ears, how does it really feel to pull on a shirt for your Country? “It’s special to pull on any shirt, whether it’s for your club or county but when it’s on an international stage it’s just a great honour. To sing the national anthem in front of the Georgian ‘rabble, just spurs you on to want to win.” It was the nature of the occasion and the roar of the crowd that seemed to resonate most with James, “they were amazing, some of the England players’ families had flown out and that just made it. My dad hadn’t renewed his passport so this time he wasn’t one of them making the noise, but I know it was a proud moment for him!”
With Georgia taking on Wales in their opening game of the forthcoming Rugby World Cup it was interesting to discover just what the team was made of, “Georgia was a strong and competitive team, whilst we didn’t think they’d be a roll over we did think we would have a couple more comfortable games.” Georgia is beautiful; it’s certainly somewhere I’d like to go back to; although I’m not too sure they’d want us back after our singing!”
The standard of singing only has to be left to the imagination for a short while, as we catch up with Captain and teammate on the England Counties tour Joe Makin to find out more about the tour and the evening on the karaoke machine!
