Rugby: Kyle Sinckler, the genial giant ready for All Blacks

Kyle Sinckler, a genial giant off the pitch and an occasional hot head on it, is the one British and Irish Lions tight forward who could confound the expectations of New Zealand rugby supporters on this tour.

The tighthead prop is a ball player, a young man who likes taking on opposition defences with finely thought out running lines and the occasional piece of brilliant footwork, a man - too - who is more than happy to talk about the mistakes he has made and the story of how he went from a Manchester United-supporting football player, to a centre, and then a front rower.

If any among the big Lions pack is going to enjoy the hard, dry pitch and frenetic style the Highlanders are likely to employ under the roof in Dunedin tomorrow, it is the south Londoner who didn't go to a rugby school and only made his England debut last year.

"I enjoy having the ball in my hands and running lines off No9 and No10," Sinckler said.

"That's something I can bring... as we know in my younger days - I'm only 24 but I feel 44 sometimes - scrummaging is something I've always had to work on, and it's coming along really nicely at the moment."

Sinckler got into rugby by chance as an eight or nine year old. "I used to play football... but I used to keep getting in trouble - I kept being sent off all the time. My mum was speaking to her friend on the phone one day and she said 'you should bring Kyle down to the local rugby club'.

"I rocked up in full Manchester United kit and fell in the love with the game. I played centre till I was 13 years old and got scouted by Harlequins because I was playing against the backs coach's son. I think I got sent off in that game as well.

"He invited me to a Harlequins academy training session and we all warmed up and then had a split - forwards and backs - I was obviously running away to the backs and the coach grabbed me by the back of the collar and said 'no, you're a tighthead prop now' and threw me in the deep end."

Sinckler's liking for physical contact which got him into trouble on the football pitch, occasionally still does now, but with the help of some senior Harlequins teammates, including former Wallabies skipper and lock James Holwell, and Wales prop Adam Jones, Sinckler has learned to be more self-disciplined.

"We played Wasps away last year and I came on for Adam Jones at halftime. I was fuming because we were playing so bad. I probably could have been sent off two or three times in that game and James Holwell and Adam Jones sat me down... and said 'look, you've got to stop it. It's all about you, or that's what it looks like... it's costing the team'."

If this match against the southerners is the perfect platform for Sinckler, it should be too, for a Lions team still fine-tuning at attack that has scored only two tries in three matches on tour.

Assistant coach Andy Farrell, a man buoyed by the defensive efforts of his men against the Crusaders in Christchurch, is aware of the challenge the Highlanders will present on a dry track. Key for the visitors will be controlling the pace of the game, something the wet conditions allowed them to do at AMI Stadium.

"Fantastic," was Farrell's response when asked about the roof. "We trained on the pitch today and it's certainly a dry track. It's a hard track. A lot of the lads have played the All Blacks there before and they know the tempo they like to play within that ground. We've got to make sure that we are in control of the pace of the game."