Tom tipped for glory
SALE LEGEND BACKS CURRY TO SHINE
WE’RE building up to a massive game of rugby this weekend with England preparing to take on South Africa in the Rugby World Cup final. It’s billed to be a thrilling finale to the competition, and with four Sale Sharks players involved, everyone at the club will be tuning in tomorrow morning to see how it all unfolds.
The tournament so far has been a great spectacle with some amazing games of rugby and some players really making a name for themselves on the international stage.
Even the time difference hasn’t dampened interest. Early-morning viewing has been essential, but it feels to me that as the competition has progressed, more and more people have been tuning in.
Obviously our very own Tom Curry has been one of those players to really earn the plaudits for England and rightly so.
He had a fantastic Six Nations earlier in the year and has carried that from into the World Cup.
Alongside Sam Underhill, the ‘Kamikaze Kids,’ as Eddie Jones calls them, have been brilliant for England and I expect them to be just as good this weekend.
England looked so dangerous against the All Blacks and they were at the heart of everything, so I’m expecting them to play with a similar intensity against South Africa.
Sale Sharks fans were keen for Tom’s twin brother Ben to join him out there to watch the game and there was even a campaign on social media with the hashtag #GetBentoJapan trending earlier this week! We play
Bristol away tonight, so ideally, we’d have Ben with us for the trip. But, it’s a once-in-a-life time opportunity so of course, we were happy to let him fly out there with his family to see the game.
Mark Wilson came on late in the match to replace Sam Underhill and link-up with Tom, so it was brilliant to see him get some more game-time. He’s a fantastic player and impressed me when he came on, so although I don’t think he’ll start tomorrow, I’m sure he’ll be involved at some stage and we look forward to getting him in Sale shirt when he gets back next month.
That brings me to South Africa, where Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager have been immense throughout the tournament. The Bok lock, as he’s more affectionately known, has been rock solid in there and will definitely cause England some problems.
In terms of Faf, Chris Ashton described him as a ‘mini Hercules’ earlier this week and said he’s probably the best number 9 in world rugby at the moment. I’d have to agree with him. His performances at the AJ Bell Stadium over the past couple of seasons have been superb and he’s also lit up the tournament with his style of play and his personality.
He’ll be the key to South Africa tomorrow I think, so England need to stop him playing.
Whichever way it goes, there’s sure to be some banter at the club when the boys get back, but more than anything, we’re really proud to have so many world-class players from the club in action for a World Cup final. It really does reflect some of the investment in the club from the likes of Simon Orange and Ged Mason and it’s a great advert for rugby union in the north west.
We’re excited to get the boys back, but we’ve got an exciting final to look forward to first where millions of people will be tuning in to see them in action. It might come back to haunt me, but I’ll stick my neck on the line and say it will be Owen Farrell lifting the trophy after the final whistle goes tomorrow.