Italy out of ruck with hot Curry

LAST time Italy came to Twickenham, England could not form a ruck... let alone win one.

By not committing any defenders to the breakdown, Italy ensured there was no offside line and England found their passing routes all blocked up.

It was brilliantly innovative and took Eddie Jones’ side half the game to work out what the hell was going on.

Two years on, don’t expect Tom Curry to be asking the referee for advice on what to do as his predecessor James Haskell did that day.

Curry (above with Jones) is the youngest player in this Six Nations at 20 years old, yet he has been one of England’s best.

After three rounds, he lies second on the overall tackle count with 69 – behind only Red Rose team-mate Mark Wilson.

For a player of his age his physical output has been incredible.

In a week in which one lad from Manchester has rightly attracted fulsome praise for his exploits on the European stage, it is right we should salute another even younger than United’s Marcus Rashford.

In my day we had a guy called Richard Hill (left) who did not say much but did everything and went on to win a World Cup.

No fuss, no mess. I’m getting the sense Tom could be a player like that. A player out of the same mould.

The way I see flankers in general, but openside flankers in particular, is they are game-makers and game-breakers.

They make your game work by sacrificing themselves to clear the ruck to deliver quick ball – and break the opposition’s by being utterly destructive in the tackle and in competition for the ball.

If Tom delivers today, England should have ample opportunity to attack off their own ball.

He will create opportunities for them to attack off turnovers too.

So far he has been sensational, with no dip or blind spots in what he’s done.

If he had a black shirt on we’d be going nuts about this guy. He is everything you could want in a modern-day openside.

So good, in fact, that Italy will be wishing they had saved their ‘ruckless’ ambush for him.