Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Kevin Sinfield says it’s time to ‘embark on a new challenge’ after accepting rugby union offer.
Kevin Sinfield says it’s time to ‘embark on a new challenge’ after accepting rugby union offer. Photograph: Dave Howarth/PA
Kevin Sinfield says it’s time to ‘embark on a new challenge’ after accepting rugby union offer. Photograph: Dave Howarth/PA

Kevin Sinfield will leave Leeds Rhinos to take up Leicester Tigers coaching role

This article is more than 2 years old
  • Rugby league legend switches codes to become defence coach
  • Cites lack of enjoyment in director of rugby position

Leicester Tigers have confirmed that Kevin Sinfield will cross rugby codes and join the club’s staff as defence coach next season, with Sinfield saying he had lost the love for his role as director of rugby with Super League’s Leeds Rhinos.

Sinfield, who enjoyed a hugely successful playing career in league, winning every domestic trophy available during an 18-year career with the Rhinos as well as captaining England, will embark on a new challenge with the Premiership club at the end of the current Super League season.

The 40-year-old was recently awarded an OBE in the Queen’s honours list for services to rugby league and charitable fundraising after he raised millions for former teammate Rob Burrow and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. He returns to union where he had a brief playing spell with Yorkshire Carnegie at the end of his career in 2015-16.

Sinfield said he has lost the buzz for his administrative role with the Rhinos, leading to him accepting an offer to become part of Steve Borthwick’s coaching staff. “What I kept coming back to is I’m just not getting enough satisfaction from the role, I haven’t enjoyed it,” he said. “There’s a few things I’m keen to stress. I absolutely love the club, I love the sport, that will always be the case, it will always be in my heart and my head.

“I might be doing a role away from the sport but that does not mean my commitment, support and love for the sport will change. When I came back I always said it would be to help and after three years I think this is what’s right for me and the club, because I love the place and the people I work with.

“But what I came back to is: I’m just not getting enough satisfaction from the role and it’s time to embark on a new challenge and look to do something new.”

The Breakdown: sign up and get our weekly rugby union email.

Borthwick said: “It is incredible to be welcoming someone of Kevin’s calibre and experience to our club. The vast and unique experience that Kevin will bring to our coaching means he is a great addition to our team. He is a serial winner and an inspirational character who possesses the hard-working and tough qualities we want at Leicester Tigers. This is an announcement everybody involved with Leicester Tigers should be excited about.”

Meanwhile, Premiership Rugby says it is “really disappointed” after learning that the crowd capacity for the Gallagher Premiership final at Twickenham on 26 June will be kept to 10,000 supporters because of Covid restrictions. It had been hoped that 20,000 socially distanced fans might be able to attend but 10,000 public sale tickets will now have to be refunded.

Most viewed

Most viewed