RED HOT CURRYS
Twins Ben and Tom are England’s…
WHEN Sale face Exeter at Sandy Park today, Tom Curry is due to start and Ben Curry will be on the bench. That’s the theory, anyway. If they changed shirts and places, they could probably get away with it.
Those who don’t know them struggle to see the subtle differences. Tom’s hair is swept to the left, Ben’s to the right. After being pictured together by Sports
mail’s photographer, they see the proof that their profiles vary — it’s all in the jawline, apparently.
Conveniently for players and staff at Sale, Ben is sporting a temporary facial blemish which gives the game away. ‘The physios and everyone at the club love that graze on his nose at the moment,’ said Tom.
These are the teenage brothers from Cheshire who combined to help England Under 20s claim a junior Grand Slam this month and enhance their soaring reputations.
The flankers, who both weigh 16st 1lb, have the same outstanding potential, so much so that Sale recently awarded the pair new five-year contracts. It was a demonstration of faith in siblings who appear on course to become the first identical twins to represent the national team.
As would be expected, a competitive streak and endless verbal sparring drives this double-act. The subject of shared appearance is a recurring theme they have to address with patient humour.
‘Someone will identify Tom because he’s got a rounder head,’ said Ben, who at 6ft 2in is an inch taller than his sibling.
‘You’ve got a rounder head now,’ is the counter-claim from Tom, before Ben added: ‘I’ve broken my nose once or twice, so I thought I might look different because of that.’
Last week, as they travelled to Dublin with England Under 20s, team-mates suggested a stunt at the airport. ‘ On the way out to Ireland, everyone wanted us to swap our passports,’ said Tom. ‘We thought that was a bit risky because we wanted to play!’
Since making their breakthrough together at Sale, the Currys have grown used to the confusion about who is who. It was not so much of an issue during school and junior rugby days, when they were coached by their headmaster-father and their uncle — former England hooker John Olver.
‘We were starting together in the LV Cup against Wasps and they just came in and said, “One of you is going to have to tape up differently so we know who is who”,’ said Tom. ‘I had two leg tapes on, but when it came to it, I think they were even struggling to tell us apart from that.’
Ben added: ‘When they were saying that, we just thought they were joking, but they were saying, “No, really, we can’t tell you apart”.’
The brothers’ rugby journey has been an almost entirely shared experience. Casting minds back, they vaguely recalled facing each other in school house matches or when playing for Cheshire age-group sides. Cue mutual claims of who ‘bumped’ who. They grew up playing a variety of sports. Table tennis was a joint passion and they were briefly involved with the Manchester City academy, despite only a casual interest in football.
Cricket was another shared pastime — until recently they would travel to Sandbach to play for their grandfather’s local club so he could watch them.
But rugby was in the family. ‘We came out in rugby shirts, I think,’ joked Tom. ‘There are loads of photos of us as babies in rugby shirts!’ Ben started off playing at fly-half and Tom at inside centre, before the wannabe playmakers gravitated to the pack.
Once Jonny Wilkinson was the inspiration, but in time the icon they admired was a Frenchman known as ‘Seabass’.
‘We started looking up to the forwards,’ said Tom. ‘We used to go to Sale matches at Edgeley Park. I remember watching Sebastien Chabal and being really impressed by him.’
The Currys have quickly
established themselves in the first-team squad at Sharks.
Sibling rivalry continues to spur them on. ‘I can bench-press more than him at the moment, but it’s like form, it changes,’ said Ben.
He was the one who earned two man- of-the-match awards with England Under 20s in recent weeks, which Tom has been repeatedly reminded about.
But Tom starts today, whereas Ben has to bide his time. Eddie Jones, the national coach, is closely monitoring the junior squad in the search for emerging Test contenders. For now, the Currys will focus on the rest of the club season and the prospect of involvement at the Under 20s World Cup in Georgia in June.
But all the signs are they could make history by lining up together for England. If and when that day comes, Jones could be the one struggling to tell them apart.