In a sport where private school alumni still hold sway in England, Kyle Sinckler is something of an exception. Raised in Furzedown, near Tooting in south London, he joined a state school that did not have a rugby team or even include rugby on the curriculum.

Last week Sinckler played a starring role in England’s World Cup quarter-final victory over Australia, and the prop forward is expected to feature prominently in the semi-final against New Zealand on Saturday.

At 13, Sinckler and some of his friends approached a PE teacher, Anastacia Long, to ask if she would help them set up a club. “I told them I’d be happy to arrange some fixtures and drive the minibus,” she said. Long’s husband, a rugby coach, agreed to referee.

For the first few years, Graveney school had only one set of rugby kits, which were circulated between players across the school aged from 11 to 18. Lacking its own pitch, all matches were away games and training took place in local parks or at Old Rutlishians rugby club, which allowed them to play for free.

Kyle Sinckler with his Graveney teammates.

“I didn’t have to push it at all, their enthusiasm was quite infectious,” Long said. “I only pushed when I realised how much it was doing for the boys in terms of the discipline, confidence and respect. Having a meal with other teams after matches was really impacting the behaviour of the kids, and it provided a sort of physical relief.”

The school began to encourage students who had been excluded to take up rugby, and many of the players in Long’s squad went on to be the first in their families to attend university. “A lot of those kids in exclusion had their lives turned around by rugby,” she said.

The players’ roots in the capital’s state school education system was in some ways an advantage, offering a fresh and unpredictable style of play. “These were tough kids,” Long said. “When you put them on the field, they just play to their own strengths because they’ve never been trained, and that’s much harder for the other team to combat. You can teach people to play rugby but you can’t teach speed, size, passion.”

By the time Long left Graveney in 2017, the school had a rugby team at every age group and the under-15s had reached the final of the NatWest Cup. Some of its players had been picked up by the Premiership team Harlequins and offered scholarships to independent schools for sixth form. Kyle Sinckler was one.

Sinckler’s family still live close to the school and his mother works at the local police call centre. Sinckler is often spotted in the area and is in regular contact with Long, texting her before matches and still calling her “Miss”.

Richard Smith, the president of Ironsides rugby club, where the future England star first trained as a child, said Sinckler was “idolised” by the junior players.

“Kyle always makes a point of making sure he’s free for our fun days, and when he comes down there’s about 300 kids getting their shirts signed. Rugby in the area has become a lot more popular, and a lot of that is to do with Kyle,” he said.

Smith also credited Sinckler with encouraging state school students to attend the club.

In a report commissioned after the London 2012 Olympics, Ofsted’s chief inspector found that 61% of Premiership players had attended private schools – 10 times the proportion in the general population and the highest of any English sport.

For many young players, Sinckler continues to provide a source of inspiration, acting as a role model for those who do not typically see people from their background in rugby union.

“Kyle was one of the only black kids playing, he’d come from the same kind of school and a similar background,” Long said. “That really resonated with the kids. They look for things like that.”