Daily Mail

Curry at 8 to spice up back row

- CHRIS FOY Rugby Correspond­ent in Vilamoura

TOM CURRY is set to deputise for Billy Vunipola at No 8 for England in Paris on Sunday, and Courtney Lawes is also in contention to join a reshuffled back row. The squad will fly to the French capital today after their training camp here in the Algarve and head coach Eddie Jones is due to name his side tomorrow. With the younger Vunipola brother recovering from an arm fracture, Curry is expected to give further evidence of his versatilit­y. Sale’s 21-year-old flanker is an openside by trade, but he adapted well to being selected at blindside during the World Cup, so much so that he earned a nomination for the World Player of the Year award. Now he is poised to change position again, because there is no specialist No 8 in the squad. Asked yesterday about that selection issue, defence coach John Mitchell said: ‘Billy brings a point of difference with his ability to win the gainline with the ball, but within the back-row mix we have three players with the versatilit­y to play at No 8 — Lewis Ludlam, Ben Earl and Tom Curry. ‘We have very good options. I’m very excited by the combinatio­n we have in the back row — their accelerati­on and their speed.’ That combinatio­n should also feature Sam Underhill, picking up where he left off at openside in Japan, where he was another stand-out figure in England’s surge to the final. At blindside, Ludlam is the logical option, but Lawes may be picked there instead of at lock to reinforce the pack’s aerial prowess. There will be a significan­t change to the lineout operation due to the withdrawal of Exeter hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, who has returned home for family reasons. Bath’s Tom Dunn is now set to make his debut off the bench, as understudy to Jamie George. Asked what the newcomer will offer, clubmate Anthony Watson said: ‘He’s got the hardest — and biggest — head in world rugby. Have you heard of those scans that measure your fat? It shows up bright red if you have lean mass. Dunny had two bright red patches on the top of his head, so he now claims he’s got an extremely muscular head. ‘He’s like a ram. He always gets stuck into things. He’s not the most explosive, but he’s not going to go backwards. If I wanted someone to run through a brick wall, he’s the first person I’d ask!’ England will seek to play with such direct aggression against France, in keeping with Jones’s demand for his men to target the inexperien­ce of the hosts with a ‘brutal’ onslaught. But there will be a fast-and-loose approach, too. ‘We want to be a team who can be creative,’ said fly-half George Ford. ‘Sometimes, you need a little something from nothing to change the game. We’ve got Jonny May, JJ (Jonathan Joseph), Manu Tuilagi and you need to give them the ball in space. ‘You can be brutal and smart at the same time. Brutality doesn’t always mean trying to knock the wall down, trying to run over the man straight in front of you.’

 ?? GETTY IMAGES ?? Versatile: Curry showed his star quality at World Cup
GETTY IMAGES Versatile: Curry showed his star quality at World Cup

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