‘Tinners' always made me man of the match

JON SKURR - THE FORMER WAKEFIELD, SEDGLEY PARK AND ROTHERHAM No.8 AND IRELAND SEVENS HEAD COACH

- Jon Newcombe

AS I sit here, ready to reflect on my life in rugby, I have just heard the sad news of the passing of Jim Kilfoyle aka ‘Tinners’. Jim and Roger Burman were my first coaches in the professional game and had a big influence on the start of my career.

Although I only worked with Jim for a season before moving on to pastures new, I always ended up receiving the away team man-of-the-match whenever I played against Wakefield. It didn’t matter how I played ‘Tinners’ was the sort of person that always looked out for his ‘Wakey’ players.

While I was at Wakefield, I was part of the Bradford Bulls team that won the Middlesex Sevens in 2002. What an amazing experience that was. All 12 of the Premiership clubs were involved and put out strong squads – Jonny Wilkinson, for example, played for Newcastle, which is incredible really when you think it was only a year out from the World Cup.

The Bulls were one of the two Super League clubs invited to take part along with Wigan Warriors, who had Nick Easter guesting for them! The Bulls were looking to do what Leeds Rhinos and Leeds Tykes had done and become a dual-code operation, hence the tie-up with Wakefield. That never really came to anything but for me and my best mate Feels (Jon Feeley), it was the chance to play alongside players like Robbie Paul, our captain, big Lesley Vainikolo and a young Leon Pryce.

I’m the head of a school near Bradford now and I don’t mind admitting I’ve told the story quite a few times, although not as much as Feels, who uses any opportunity he gets to recall his 70-yard try in the final against Wasps.