Analysis: How Tom Curry has become England's jack of all trades
When Tom Curry first broke onto the international scene, he looked like the openside flanker England had long been looking for. A series of stunning performances in the No7 jersey suggested that between him and Sam Underhill, England were assured of an aspect of their game they had long been missing.
On Underhill’s return from injury, Eddie Jones decided to maximise the impact his two young flankers could make by asking Curry to work on his lineout jumping so he could move to the blindside. He did that with distinction, consistently being one of England’s most impressive performers at the World Cup in Japan.
When Billy Vunipola’s latest arm injury ruled him out of the Six Nations, many assumed Jones would look to one of the specialist No8s in the English Premiership or recall Nathan Hughes. But he did neither, instead calling upon Curry’s versatility yet again to adapt to another position.
Vunipola is an irreplaceable player and Jones made clear he was looking for an alternative way for England to play without him rather than for Curry to try to replicate his impact.
So how was Curry used in the No8 jersey in the Guinness Six Nations? In a myriad of different ways, it turns out…
A modern sweeper
It’s not unusual for teams to ask a powerful ball carrier to drop back as they engage in back-and-forth kicking, allowing them to get up a head of steam as they run towards a less well-organised defensive line. England have often used Vunipola and Manu Tuilagi in this way, for example.
Likewise, teams often ask their best tacklers to chase their own kicks, putting the opposition under pressure as they try to collect, or a jackaller to sweep the field and take on an isolated runner in a poor kick return.
But most teams have different players doing these things, making the most of their different skill sets. Curry is doing all of them for England and he has been for a while now.
He might not be as powerful as Vunipola but he is quick, an excellent tackler and one of England’s best turnover merchants. That makes him extremely useful in a number of different kicking scenarios.
Taking a restart against Wales last Saturday, he used his footwork to make a few crucial metres and then secured the ball for England to get it away.
Here, against Ireland in round three, he chased down the kick-off to try and turn the ball over immediately, although in this instance Conor Murray managed to exit successfully.
He did the same repeatedly against Wales, chasing restarts and assessing breakdown opportunities.
A different type of ball carrier
The best ball carriers aren’t just powerful, they use their feet cleverly whether that is to twist through the grasp of defenders or to explode into contact and gain a precious extra metre or so.
Here, Curry showed he was more than capable of the former, very nearly breaking through Ireland’s defence.
Against Wales, he showed his smarts as a carrier again. England’s scrum was dominant so they had a penalty coming, but Curry controlled the ball (showing how quickly he has already improved in that area since the game against France) and broke down the blindside, sucking in the Welsh defence further to give England a chance of scoring a try during their advantage.
A link man and auxiliary half-back
Perhaps what was most interesting about Curry is how he was being used as a distributing option.
In the past, Jones raised eyebrows by suggesting that Ben Curry, Tom’s twin, might act as a scrum-half as well as a flanker. Ben remains uncapped but his twin has showed that Jones’ idea works in practice.
As the player tasked with distributing off England’s lineout, he passed the ball swiftly and accurately to Courtney Lawes.
He immediately followed this up by performing a more traditional flanker task, securing the ball at the ruck after Tuilagi’s carry and allowing Ben Youngs to get the ball away quickly.
He linked up well with Youngs again later in the same match. First, he showed his passing skills, unleashing Tuilagi. Then he arrived at the ruck to support Tuilagi and as Youngs tries to dummy through the line, he got up from the ruck to take the offload and get the ball sweetly to Jonny May.
This doubling up with Youngs was seen again against Wales with Curry setting up England’s first try. Again, he was the first distributor off the lineout, which allowed Youngs the space to make a perfect pass back to Anthony Watson. It was a perfect example of how England were using Curry in pre-planned moves.
Taking one for the team
Having a No8 like Vunipola can make life very easy for a scrum-half, reliably getting the team over the gain line and giving the No9 options in attack. But that is not the only way to help out a scrum-half.
The way Curry was playing at No8 seemed to be bringing out the best in Youngs, who had two standout games in a row. Curry’s comfort acting as a sweeper and a distributor meant Youngs could pick and choose his opportunities more to maximise his impact, while his clever carrying meant the team didn’t get stuck behind the gain line.
In the same way that having one flanker responsible for the grunt work allows the other to focus on turnovers and link play, having a No8 like Curry freed up other players to focus on their own game (incidentally, he still did a lot of the grunt work).
He is not the first flanker to successfully convert to No8, of course. In recent years, David Pocock and Josh Navidi demonstrated how roles across the back row can be interchangeable as long as you have balance.
But Curry is perhaps one of the most interesting modern examples, given the variety of ways he was used in the position. Has Jones found a genuine alternative to Vunipola at No8 for England? After a shaky start, it seems like he might have done.
WATCH: The Rugby Pod reflects on all last weekend’s action, including the Joe Marler incident
Comments on RugbyPass
Well where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to comments