Bloodied hero ‘Mum says I should wear a scrum cap’
Tom Curry shed blood for England last week and will happily do it again against Wales
It is one indication of Tom Curry’s age that the 20-yearold England flanker, the youngest player in any side in the Guinness Six Nations, had never heard of Terry Butcher, his blood-stained white-shirted antecedent, albeit in a different sport.
Given that Curry has not studied ancient history, there was little point referencing Jean-pierre Rives either, another stand-out openside flanker in the Test arena whose blood-flecked face was invariably a sign of a warrior spirit in play on the field. Curry fitted that bill himself on Sunday against Rives’s countrymen, defiant, remorseless, implacable. Curry may be callow but the plaudits are mounting.
Apart from the understandable gaps in his sporting knowledge, there is nothing else that marks out Curry as a child born towards the turn of the millennium. A tyro in terms of experience, the Sale flanker plays with the wisdom of a veteran, strong in body and mind, too, belying the fact that these are his formative days. Not that Curry’s mother, Susanne, sees it that way. Her boy is her boy, and she reacted to Curry’s crimson-soaked head as any mother might after the final whistle had sounded on a famous victory at Twickenham.
“I think my mum’s tears had dried up by then [the post-match reception],” Curry said. “I had five or six stitches and one more after the game. I didn’t realise anything at the time. I thought I was just sweating, then it came up on the big screens and the whole crowd went, ‘Oooh’. It wasn’t painful at all. I think I just headbutted the full-back (it was wing Damian Penaud).
“Everyone was actually surprised how small the scar was, given how much blood there was. My mum was still asking me on Tuesday night if my head was all right, but everything was fine. It didn’t even swell up.
“As for the shirt, it went straight into the wash. I think the stitches will go by Saturday. Mum has been trying for 20 years to get me to wear a scrum cap, ever since we [identical twin Ben also plays back row for Sale] were born. She is definitely pushing for it. I’m not into scrum hats though. Ben has said at least people will be able to tell the difference now. I think he thinks I’m going soft.”
There is little danger of that. It was only a couple of years ago that supporters, and even Eddie Jones himself, were bemoaning the fact that England had plenty of hybrid back-row forwards, lots of “six-and-ahalves” as Jones once described Chris Robshaw, but no No7. Now they have two, Curry and injured Bath openside Sam Underhill, trading places as injury dictates. Small wonder that the major fault line in England’s play last season, the breakdown, a failing that contributed heavily to their dismal fifth-place finish, has been repaired, Curry dovetailing splendidly with Mark Wilson, and the pair topping the tackle charts, too.
“The breakdown is a flanker’s bread and butter,” said England forwards coach Steve Borthwick. “You have to have the ability to slow down opposition ball or steal it, and speed up your own ball.
“The work-rate of Mark and Tom is exceptional. Tom has worked with [former Lions and England flanker] Richard Hill since he came on to our pathway. Tom is hungry to improve and is always doing extras. He loves competing, loves rugby.”
Curry believes in living in the moment, reacting to what is around him, rather than setting himself goals at each and every turn as a young Richie Mccaw used to do. Instead, Curry accumulates knowledge from all sorts of sources, describing himself as a “Frankenstein”, taking bits from “a Mccaw or Francois Louw or David Pocock or George Smith”.
Curry spent instructive time with Smith last week when the 38-year-old Bristol Bears back-row forward was in the England camp with his club-mates for a training session. His attentive pupil will have to invest those insights into yet another high-quality performance if England are to prosper in the Principality Stadium tomorrow week in the showdown between the two unbeaten sides in the championship. Curry has never played there, though he had faced Wales sides at age-group level.
“They have that passion and energy, not just for the first 10 or 20 minutes but for the whole game,” Curry said. “It is a huge cultural thing for them so we have to make sure we are right up there with our own game.”
England’s injury woes at loosehead prop have continued, with Leicester’s Ellis Genge pulling out of a training session at Latymer School in London with a sore ankle. Saracens’ Mako Vunipola was ruled out for 10 weeks on Tuesday after damaging ankle ligaments against France. England break camp on Friday and reconvene on Sunday.