Crocked Curry in race to be fit for Six Nations
SALE’S team bus drove off through the flood waters around Twickenham with victory music blaring but carrying one concerned passenger in Tom Curry.
The Sharks continued their march up the table with an impressive display of wet- weather management, yet their bonuspoint win came at a cost.
Talisman Curry hobbled off after 16 minutes with a hamstring injury and will have scans back in Manchester this morning to determine the severity.
director of rugby Alex Sanderson hopes his absence will be a matter of weeks, which would still leave the England star in a race to recover for the Six Nations.
‘Even if hamstrings are the lowest grade, grade one, they are generally two to three weeks,’ said Sanderson. ‘The conversation i had with Tom was, “Get your head on for the Six Nations but don’t stop being a leader for us”. He will get a scan. He was walking around but it has stiffened up. Fingers crossed he will be OK.’
in Curry’s absence, twin brother Ben stepped up with a powerful performance, winning a hat-trick of turnovers and relentlessly chasing kicks.
Harlequins took an early lead through a Tommy Allan penalty but they were undone by the accuracy of Sale’s lineout.
The visitors took the lead from a set-piece strike play in the 18th minute, using Manu Tuilagi as a decoy runner in midfield, leaving space for Tom O’Flaherty to slide over out wide.
With George Ford yet to make his debut, No 10 Rob du preez dominated the kicking battle. He exploited poor positioning in the Quins backfield, finding grass with seven kicks from 22 in the first half to leave the hosts pinned back in their own half.
‘On a rainy day like that we should have more backfield coverage,’ said Quins coach Tabai Matson. ‘The reason we spent half the game trying to exit was because we did a cr*p job there. We have to address it otherwise it’s going to continue.’ The Quins cause was not helped when winger Cadan Murley started coughing up blood on the pitch, yet he played on. Launching another lineout attack, Tuilagi switched from decoy runner to ball carrier. He blasted through midfield, before Sam James threaded a grubber kick to set up a du preez try.
The visitors squeezed Quins with their mauling game but fumbled multiple scoring chances, allowing Allan to narrow the deficit with a second penalty before half-time.
Joe Marchant pounced on a booming kick down the wing to score just after the break, but Sale hit back with Akker van der Merwe scoring from a driving maul.
Allan withdrew with a head injury after a nasty collision with Tuilagi, who could be cited. Harlequins are battling with a long injury list but Matson revealed Marcus Smith will return next week.
‘Marcus is scheduled for Europe so he’ll feature somewhere in the 23,’ said Matson. ‘There’s a significant cavalry coming over the hill. He’s trained really well the last two weeks and he’ll be raring to go.’
days after joining the England coaching team, the smile was wiped off the face of Quins coach Nick Evans as Cobus Wiese drove over for Sale’s bonus-point try in the 63rd minute.
A late try for Nick david proved to be no more than a consolation score as the missed conversion left Harlequins with not even a bonus point.