Kevin Sinfield to miss England's first Test against New Zealand next Saturday to attend Rob Burrow's funeral following the rugby league legend's tragic death, aged 41

Kevin Sinfield will miss England’s first Test against New Zealand in Dunedin next Saturday, in order to attend the funeral of his good friend, Rob Burrow, who died earlier this month after a protracted battle with Motor Neurone Disease.

Steve Borthwick has cleared his highly-valued assistant to fly home, so that he can pay his respects in person, before returning to the tour ahead of the second Test at Eden Park. When Sinfield opened up in Auckland about grieving for his long-time Leeds Rhinos team-mate – who he has supported with heroic fund-raising feats in recent years – he said: ‘The funeral is a week on Sunday.

‘It’s in Pontefract Crematorium. It’s a private ceremony with family and friends. People might know where it is and come and stand outside, but there’s only about 100 people who have been asked to attend. The rest will be asked to line the streets, which I’m sure they will.

‘I’ll fly back on Friday, which unfortunately means I’ll miss the Test. I’ll be home for two days, then I’ll be back out here getting ready for the second Test. Steve (Borthwick) has been wonderfully supportive of that; he completely understands. I couldn’t have asked for any more.’

Burrow passed away on June 2, four-and-a-half years after being diagnosed with MND. In that time, his remarkably positive spirit in adversity and Sinfield’s herculean marathon-running exploits have raised awareness, as well as many millions of Pounds.

The last few weeks have been a struggle for England’s kicking and skills coach – who also acts as a mentor, especially to younger players. His role involves supporting members of the squad and they, in turn, have been supporting him of late.

‘It has been tough,’ said Sinfield. ‘Rob passed on Sunday afternoon and on Monday we were in camp before we came out to Japan. At that point, you want to be with family and friends and on Monday morning before I travelled down to Pennyhill (England’s HQ in Surrey) I was at the site where the Rob Burrow MND Centre is going to be. They put the first spade in the ground, and his mum and dad were there and his sisters.

‘The weekend was tough. I got to see him on the Thursday before he passed. We had broken from camp. I knew he was poorly but I walked in to see him and I got a big smile off him which was brilliant.’

Having tried to come to terms with the sad news while switching into England mode, Sinfield added: ‘It’s been really good to get away and have some time to reflect. Rob would want me to be here and be part of this. The lads have been fantastic – they’ve shown compassion and care for me that won’t go unnoticed. Steve and the management team have been wonderful, too.

‘Apart from being at home with family, this is probably the best place for me to be. I’m busy and I’ve got some really strong friendships within the management and with players. That’s been really helpful.’

Despite being on the other side of the world at the moment, Sinfield’s myriad personal connections from league days mean that he has a chance to meet familiar faces, which is comforting too. ‘There are a lot of guys I played with who live out here, and some guys who coached me as well,’ he added. ‘I’m looking forward to hooking up with them, sharing stories about Rob and remembering him in the right way.

‘Brian McClellan, a coach I had for three years, I’m catching up with him tomorrow. Richard Agar, who’s now assistant coach at the (New Zealand) Warriors. Will Poortche, who I played with at the Rhinos. Next week, I’ll catch up with Ali Lauiti’iti. He was a pretty special guy.’

The same can be said of Sinfield himself and England’s players are hoping that he agrees to stay on after this tour – months after announcing that he would be moving on. For now, he won’t be drawn on whether that will happen or not.

‘I’ve given it a lot of thought, but I can’t share it with you today,’ he said. ‘We’ll see. In the last couple of weeks, with what has happened with Rob, it has been given me plenty to think about again. He was a big inspiration for me to come across to rugby union to start with and he’s continued to be an inspiration with the career choices I’ve made so far, after he got diagnosed four-and-a-half years ago. We’ll see.’

England will attend the Warriors v Broncos NRL match in Auckland on Saturday, before stepping up their preparations for the series opener against the All Blacks. Borthwick should be able to fulfil his wish for selection stability as Harlequins flanker Chandler Cunningham-South is available for selection after recovering from an ankle knock during the 52-17 victory over Japan in Tokyo last Saturday.