By MARK CASHMAN

His time in Japan with Toyota Verblitz was cut short by the Covid-19 Pandemic but Angus Sinclair reckons he has come back to Northern Suburbs a better footballer.

Rubbing shoulders with the likes of former All Blacks skipper Kieran Read and Springboks Gio Aplon and Willie le Roux as well as the celebrated Japanese international Kazuki Himeno taught the 30-year-old flyhalf a lot about how to get the best out of himself.

“In many cases it’s just the little things in an environment like that that make the difference,” Sinclair said.

“Like having the time to recover from games and training and being able to work on your core skills like kicking and passing.

“In an average game week in Japan I would practise my goal kicking on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and then have the game on the Saturday.

“You are also in the gym four days a week and it does make a difference.”

Sinclair said the confidence to have a crack was another big lesson from his time in Japan.

“Willie le Roux was like our third ball player and I can remember him trying 10 chip and chase moves in a game where eight of them came off,” he said.

“Gio (Aplon) was great too. He was a great leader on and off the field and I feel that I learnt a lot off his behaviours and training habits.

“And Himeno is such a huge thing over there. It’s an amazing experience just going for a coffee with a guy like that.”

Sinclair headed to Japan at the back end of the Rugby World Cup and although he didn’t see any cup games says that the “glow” about rugby was still there when he arrived.

Toyota’s base is in Toyota near Nagoya and the club is based at a huge training base that catered for a number of sports, not just rugby.

His mentor from the 2016 premiership year at Norths Simon Cron was the head coach under the guidance of Steve Hansen and Sinclair was used as a mentor for the younger players in the group with many of the attacking shapes familiar.

“It was the first time that I had been in a full-time professional program and it was great to be able to immerse yourself in it and get the most out of it,” Sinclair added.

“I arrived the Monday after the Rugby World Cup had finished and there was a massive buzz about the game and a lot of the Top League games were sell outs.

“Our game against the Panasonic Wild Knights (the team Robbie Deans coaches) was played during that time and we got a crowd of 37,000 at Toyota Stadium.”

The pandemic saw Sinclair and now fiancé Grace Burgun, who had joined him in Japan at Christmas time, head back to Australia at the end of March.

Sinclair had planned to propose at Cherry Blossom Festival time in Japan but that was shelved for an open fire on a hill on the family property near Cowra with his nearest and dearest.

“I would have loved to have finished off the year in Japan with Toyota (the Top League was called off six games into their season) but that is something that we couldn’t control,” He said.

“It would be great to have another year over there and there are a few nibbles out there but at my stage of life being engaged and settling down it needs to be the right opportunity.”

In the meantime it’s Norths that Sinclair is worrying about and he says he is enjoying the new coaching regime at Norths under head coach Earl Va’a and coaching director Zac Beer.

“Yeah Earl and Zac and the rest of their coaching team are a real breath of fresh air,” Sinclair says.

“Last year we finished fourth at the end of the home and away season but to be brutally honest we were never really a team that would contend for the title.

“The playing group was tight but there was no real cohesion in the coaching staff so having that alignment this year has made hell of a difference.

“The team definitely has a new lease of light.

“There’s also a number of new guys that have come into the senior playing group like Brad Hemopo, Dewald Dekker and Heinrich Brendel and they are bringing a whole new approach to our games.

“A lot of them don’t know who is in the other side so they are just ripping in and concentrating on making sure that their game is where it needs to be. And that’s good.”

It’s the Two Blues this weekend in Camden for the Shoremen and things are only going to get tougher with a lot of upper table showdowns to come.

Brother Hugh is due back in coming weeks from the Waratahs Super Rugby bubble and youngest brother Hamish is another month away after a MCL injury.

““In some ways it’s not unalike 2016 where we had won four and lost four and our season was on the line virtually every week,” Sinclair said summing up where Norths focus is at – one week at a time.

“Getting the chance to play with my brothers and chasing another premiership is my focus right now.”

IMAGE: KAREN WATSON