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England handed mixed news over availability of Curry brothers
By Chris Jones
Ben Curry will miss England’s Autumn Nations Series campaign after undergoing surgery to solve a hamstring problem that was threatening his ability to compete for a test place, and will now face a six-week lay-off.
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The surgery on the hamstring will allow Curry to finally train fully without the danger of having to pull out of sessions or matches due to the problem flaring up again.
The decision was taken by the player in conjunction with Sale boss Alex Sanderson and Steve Borthwick, the England head coach, who named the flanker in the 25-strong EPS squad before the season started and who can now plan to have the flanker available for the Six Nations. It also means Sale will be able to play Curry in their Investec Champions Cup matches.
Sanderson said: “Ben has had the operation and he won’t be featuring for us because it is quite a big scar and they have moved the muscle apart and removed the suture (from the previous surgery) and now it is about the healing process which could be three or four or five or six weeks. I discussed it with Steve and it was hypothetical at that point and in the end Ben, quite rightly, said he couldn’t operate at the level he wanted.
“He couldn’t prep and train as he wanted and said he needed the operation and Steve said it was a decision we would back him and it was his call. It was really well handled. There was a physical restriction even on him getting out and doing something on Mondays, and then pulling himself out of sessions. I don’t think he could have operated at international level if he wasn’t able to deal with the loading that international rugby requires (without the operation).
“It wouldn’t have helped his England career because of the high level of competition in the back-row. Ben wasn’t happy after games because he wasn’t putting his best performance out there. It was something that was seemingly never ending and uncontrollable in terms of how he could structure his week.”
Tom Curry is undertaking some training following the operation on his wrist and will continue to increase his work load when he goes into camp with England ahead of the November Test matches. “He will be available at some point during the autumn,” added Sanderson.
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