For Kyle Sinckler, the first clue something was up came when his phone started buzzing. That was 12.10 on Wednesday afternoon. He was in a team meeting at Harlequins, going over the previous week’s defeat to Exeter, so he couldn’t look to see what it was. “My phone started going crazy,” he says, “I wanted to look because it was literally nonstop.” As soon as Sinckler walked out of the meeting, he saw “all these messages saying ‘congratulations, well done’ and I was just like ‘wow’”.

That was how he found out he had just been selected for the Lions. Sinckler is 24 and has not even started a game for England. He was as surprised as anyone. “Being here, it’s a bit surreal,” Sinckler says. “I’m just lost for words.”

Somebody sent Sinckler an article that said he was a contender but he did not pay it much mind. “I thought: ‘Interesting,’ but I didn’t have a clue. I never had any thoughts or expectations. I had the mindset of: ‘Don’t expect anything,’ and then if something happens then great but if nothing happens I wasn’t losing out. I didn’t read into it too much because there were loads of rumours.”

Truth is, he was worried about whether he was even going to get on England’s trip to Argentina this summer. “I thought maybe I’d sneak on to an England tour if I was lucky enough. Because with Eddie [Jones] you never know and you never take playing for England for granted.”

Sinckler was up late Wednesday night, thinking about it. “I couldn’t sleep. I was just thinking to myself it is just crazy where I am compared to where I was last year.” When Jones selected Sinckler for England’s tour of Australia last summer, he had only played 28 games that season, and 26 of them had been off the bench. Even now, Harlequins’ director of rugby, John Kingston, says that Sinckler is a “wonderful talent” but still learning his “bread and butter” work as a prop at the set piece, which is why Kingston sometimes prefers to start Will Collier instead.

When Sinckler was done training, he found he had five missed calls from his mum. “I called her in the car and she was saying how proud she was.” Their conversation turned back to the second Test of the 2009 Lions tour, which he watched on TV. “I was downstairs and she was upstairs and I was screaming at the telly.” When Morne Steyn kicked a penalty in the final minute to win the series, Sinckler started crying. “I was literally in tears, weeping. My mum came down to check I was OK and I said: ‘We’ve lost, we’ve lost.’” Sinckler is, Kingston admits, “a very emotional individual”.

Sinckler’s friend, mentor and team-mate Adam Jones played in that game. Eight years later, the Welshman was on hand to congratulate Sinckler on being picked. “He was the first one to come up to me and give me a big hug.” Sinckler is planning to pick Jones’ brains. “Me and Adam live in Guildford and I’ll probably try to get him out for a steak, on me. He won’t say no to that. I’ll just pick his brains and talk about his experiences and see if I can learn anything from him.” Jones, he says, has been a “massive, massive” influence on his game.

Another mentor is Graham Rowntree, Harlequins’ forwards coach, who will be doing the same job with the Lions this summer. Sinckler still has not spoken to Warren Gatland but he had a chat with Rowntree right after he was done talking to his mum. Rowntree told him to “focus on my game for Harlequins, keep working hard”. Sinckler has also learned a lot from Joe Marler, and is delighted that he has also been called up for the Lions tour. “I’ve literally been like an eagle watching them,” Sinckler says of Marler and Jones, “they probably think I’m a bit weird.”

Marler does not deny it. “He’s constantly saying: ‘Are you coming in early tomorrow mate? Doing an extra session?’” When Sinckler found out that Marler likes to come in and train on his own, he asked if he could join him. Marler reluctantly agreed. “Then he puts his music on. And I had to say: ‘No, if you’re joining my sessions we’re listening to Paul Simon. Not your crap.’”

Marler says Sinckler is “still a young pup, and he’s still got to work his way up the ladder, you’ve got to do some grafting years at your club. He’s had it come quite quickly so I just like to keep his feet on the ground.”

Kingston thinks Gatland has picked Sinckler for his impact as “an incredibly powerful ball carrier”. But he probably heard good things from Rowntree about Sinckler’s puppyish enthusiasm, too. He will give everything he has. He always does.

“Whether it’s in a squad or out of a squad doesn’t really matter to me. I love just playing rugby. I could be playing in the park for Battersea Ironsides, I don’t care, I just want to go out and hit people. I’m just lucky enough it’s going to be for the British & Irish Lions.”