Kevin Sinfield
Personal information
Born	12 September 1980 (1980-09-12) (age 29)
	Oldham, Greater Manchester, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.86 m)
Weight	15 st 2 lbs (96 kg)
Playing information
Position	Loose-Forward / Stand-off
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1997–	Leeds Rhinos	244	43	794	12	1772
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2000–09	England	7	3	9	0	30
2001–07	Great Britain	14
As of 2 November, 2008

Kevin Sinfield (born 12 September 1980 in Oldham, Greater Manchester) is an English professional rugby league player currently playing in the Super League competition for Leeds Rhinos. Sinfield has represent Great Britain on 13 occasions as well as being capped 4 times for England. Sinfield was a member of the England squad for the World Cup in 2000 notably scoring a hat-trick of tries in a 76-4 victory over Russia. He became only the second player after the great Lewis Jones to score 1,000 goals for Leeds, passing the landmark on 22 August 2009 against Celtic Crusaders.

[edit] Overview

Kevin Sinfield lifting the Superleague trophy after Leeds Rhinos' 2008 victory.

Kevin has always been recognised as an extremely special player since he joined the Rhinos in 1996 and made his debut whilst still a 16-year-old against Sheffield at Headingley in 1997. A brilliantly gifted rugby player, he has already achieved so much in his short career that many believe he will go on to be one of the true greats of the game. Kevin was part of the squad that made it to the 1999 and 2000 Challenge Cup Final, only to miss out on a place in the Final line up. However, he fought back from that disappointment to captain the Rhinos in the 2003 Final at Cardiff only to become infamous for refusing 2 points in the last minutes which would have seen extra time in the final. instead he kicked for touch to see if Leeds could break Bradford's line. Such was his progression at the club that he was awarded the Leeds Rhinos captaincy for 2003 after becoming a first choice regular at the club. Adept at playing either loose forward or stand off, Kevin is an astute goal kicker and amassed over five hundred points in just five seasons in the first team. In 2004 Kevin finished the season as the Super League’s top goal scorer with 152 goals and 3 drop goals and with a further 4 tries he became the top points scorer with a tally of 323.

Sinfield taking a conversion during the 2009 Superleague play off semi final against Catalan Dragons.

[edit] Run-through of matches

[edit] 2000-2001

Kevin graduated to the full international ranks for England in the World Cup in 2000. He appeared off the bench in the opening game against Australia before making his full debut against Russia five days later. He scored a hat-trick that day and then returned to the bench for the next match against Fiji. 2001 was even more of success as Sinfield played for the victorious Lancashire side at Headingley in the Origin match before taking up his spot in the starting line up for England against Wales. Sinfield had clearly grown in stature and David Waite had no hesitation in throwing him in at hooker, a position he had never played before, for his debut in the first test of the Ashes in the Autumn, which Great Britain won. Sinfield played in the remaining two tests.

[edit] 2002-2004

In 2002 Kevin retained his place in both the Lancashire Origin and the Great Britain side. He gained his fourth cap in July of that year, again against Australia in Sydney before featuring in two Tests against New Zealand in the Autumn international series. Kevin retained his place in the Great Britain side for the Ashes in 2003 however despite a successful domestic season he was omitted from the 2004 Tri Nations squad. Last year though there was no question over his inclusion and he showed just what he could do, kicking 4 goals from 4 attempts in the opening game against New Zealand.

[edit] 2005

In 2005, Kevin became the first Leeds captain ever to lift the World Club Challenge trophy and led his side back to the Powergen Challenge Cup and Grand Final. He missed just five games last season after dislocating his thumb mid-season. He scored 328 points in all competitions and narrowly missed out on the top spot as the league’s top points scorer. Last season also marked a momentous milestone for Kevin as he became only the 11th player in the history of the club to surpass 1,000 points in a career and currently has scored 1,183 points for Leeds in 212 appearances. That places him seventh in the all time list for Leeds.

[edit] 2006

2006 was a disappointing season for the Rhinos as they finished 3rd in the Engage Super League table behind St Helens and Hull FC. The Rhinos also lost in the Challenge Cup semi final to the Huddersfield Giants. The Rhinos controversially lost to Warrington Wolves 18-17 in the first round of the play offs. Kevin played a further 26 games for the Rhinos taking his overall total to 246 appearances. Kevin scored 219 points for Leeds taking his personal total to 1402 points and leaving him 4th in the overall rankings of top points scorers for Leeds. Kevin was also controversially left out of the Great Britain Lions squad that travelled to Australia and New Zealand for the 2006 Tri-Nations.

[edit] 2007

2007 turned into a great year for Sinfield as became the first ever Leeds player to captain the team to two Championship victories - lifting the trophy at Old Trafford in the Super League Grand Final on 13 October 2007 following a defeat of St Helens.

[edit] 2008

On February 29 at Elland Road in front of a crowd of 33,204 Kevin led Leeds to their second world club challenge title. On 24 May, Sinfield overtook Andy Farrells 9 year old record of scoring in 48 consecutive Super League games when the Rhinos downed the Bradford Bulls 30-14 at Odsal^[1] (Record still ongoing). On Friday 6 June Sinfield scored 10 points against Hull in a 38-22 victory to overtake Joe Thompson as the Second Highest ever points scorer for the club with 1,885.^[2]

He has been named in the Super League Dream Team for the 2008 season.^[3]

He captained the Leeds Rhinos in the 2008 Super League Grand Final victory over St Helens.^[4]

He has been named in the England squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.^[5]

Sinfield being interviewed by Sky Sports in 2009.

[edit] 2009

On October 10, Sinfied led Leeds to a third consecutive Grand Final success thanks to an 18-10 victory over St Helens at Old Trafford. He was also awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy for a man-of-the-match performance.^[6]. The victory meant that Sinfield became the first individual in the history of the game to captain four championship winning teams.^[7]

[edit] Testimonial match

Kevin Sinfield's Testimonial match at Leeds took place in 2008.

[edit] Superleague Record

The table below shows a cumulative points and scoring records for Kevin Sinfield at the end of the 2008 Superleague season.

^[8]

[edit] Trivia

Kevin has an older brother, Ian Sinfield who currently plays for Rochdale Hornets as well as being a Scottish International

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Leeds Rhinos profile
• 2001 Ashes profile
• International Statistics at englandrl.co.uk
• Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org