'I'm under no illusions... the hard work has to come first and you have to stay in the moment'
What Tom Curry hopes will become the adventure of a lifetime begins this Sunday at Pennyhill Park. England’s World Cup opener against Tonga in Sapporo on September 22 is still 13 weeks away, but the jockeying for position is underway with no certainty about what might transpire.
Eddie Jones’ decision to keep players from the Gallagher Premiership’s four semi-final clubs on ice until a July 7 camp at the Lensbury means that those involved in the two rendezvous prior to that can’t be fully sure they will be involved for the long haul.
Just look at this particular week’s curveballs. Of the 15 forwards chosen in the 29-strong squad, two of the half-dozen back rows – Alex Dombrandt and Lewis Ludlam – are uncapped, their presence sure to guarantee that Curry, Sam Underhill, Mark Wilson and Brad Shields can’t take anything for granted about the way their national coach is thinking.
Curry walked away from Sale in May for his end-of-season break with no resounding words from Steve Diamond ringing in his ears. “He is a big believer in making sure you get your rest away from rugby. It was just that really,” said the 21-year-old to RugbyPass.
Truth be told, though, there was no complete getaway from rugby to be lapped up. Not with Japan on the horizon. Even when in Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera, Curry was seen out on his bike keeping the lungs ticking over for what lies ahead in these two foundation weeks with England before Jones more revealingly lays his RWC 2019 cards on the table with the squad for the July 7 camp.
“The conditioners basically let us do our own stuff but it was still about getting the body ready if we got a call into camp.”
Making the cut for the finals in Japan is a big deal for the Sale back row who was named the Land Rover Discovery of the Season at May’s Premiership awards night.
Defensive workrate and energetic breakdown earned him the plaudits and the trick now is to ensure the mightily impressive campaign – which included five consecutive England Six Nations starts – doesn’t go to waste as he hunts down passport validation for Japan.
“Any time you represent the country is hugely special and a massive honour, but I’m under no illusions. The hard work has to come first and you have got to stay in the moment.
“If you think about stuff that is going to happen in the future you will probably let it slip by, so it’s about making sure you are fully focused on the here and the now, how I can get better, keep working hard and whatever happens happens. It will be up to the coaches to make the decision.”
Curry was still at school at Oundle in Northamptonshire when the last World Cup was on, a 17-year-old looking on from afar as England crashed out at the pool stage in the tournament they were hosting.
29 players have been called up for next week's England training camp ?
See who's in ? https://t.co/S6BByCkCzW pic.twitter.com/oKDtATDKop
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) June 20, 2019
“I didn’t go to a game but I remember watching on TV in school and just thinking Twickenham is a special ground but when it was lit up for the World Cup, it just seemed like a different ground. I just remembered thinking how special the occasion actually was in a weird way, just how it looked so different. It was almost on another level.”
He was six days shy of his 19th birthday when Jones first took a shine, pitching him into June 2017 battle against Argentina in San Juan. It was a full year again before he got a second opportunity but he has since proven that his 6ft 1in, 106kg frame has the durability to thrive at the highest level.
He laughs that coaches and his twin brother Ben, whose back spasm injury in the lead-up to a Barbarians match gave Tom his initial in with England, keep his very grounded despite coming so far so fast.
“I’m very aware you can get too far ahead of yourself and as soon as you start thinking you are better than you are, you don’t improve. I just like the feeling that I’m improving. That is what motivates me, to just keep getting better.
“I have always been a big believer in that, just fully immersing yourself in whatever lies ahead. In terms of have I achieved as much as I want, there is no real measurement to that. I’m happy with what I have done and I feel like I have got a lot more to give. That is all that matters.
‘It [a full Six Nations] does fill you a lot of confidence that you can fully embrace it. It’s a lot of confidence gained from that. International rugby definitely does feel another level up from Premiership in terms of the speed, physicality. To be able to perform and play at that level and be there for the whole seven weeks filled me with a lot of confidence.”
Curry is a bit of a Frankenstein in the manner of how he has moulded himself into becoming an England No7. There was never any one particular role model, just a conscientious effort on his part to analyse a whole generation of opensides and cannibalise various skills for use in his own repertoire.
His approach worked brilliantly and given what he has so quickly achieved, he’d be stoked if there were youngsters now out there forensically looking at him in the same way he used to suss out the stars of the game.
“I hope so. That is a huge thing for any sportsman, for young people to look up. To be able to not only inspire but influence people, that is a massive honour for any sportsman.
“It depends on what they are thinking. It totally depends on them. I imagine a lot of people probably won’t know what I do but a few people might. It depends on what they see,” he said, nonchalantly adding that the rough and tumble of being a poacher liable for some rough breakdown treatment isn’t something that overly concerns him.
“Obviously, getting your head down in there is pretty interesting. There is an element of decision making. If you can see someone coming from a mile away and there is not much chance to get the ball, there is a decision to make about getting out of there. But as far as the level of protection I don’t really know. I just enjoy it.”
It’s fun that attracted its share of notoriety last February, his bloodied, photogenic head drawing comparisons with Terry Butcher, a long-ago England football captain who made headlines for spilling claret and then having a white headband turn red as his match went on.
I counted 15 uhms https://t.co/lkdhVRNDR7
— Thomas Curry (@TomCurry98) October 24, 2018
“Yeah, I did (know who Butcher was) after the first 10 people telling me,” quipped Curry with a smile ahead of a Pennyhill date that is another step along the way towards him becoming a stand-out player in his own right without being referred to as one of the Curry twins.
“I’m getting used to it,” he said, reflecting on how England duty is keeping him away from his once inseparable twin Ben, whom he lives with in Manchester and plays with out of the same Sale back row in the Premiership.
“It has been about being able to adapt and it has been fine. Everyone in the England camp gets on, so no worries about it. We were still able to text and FaceTime and speak, so it was absolutely fine.”
WATCH: Part one of the two-part RugbyPass documentary on what fans can expect in Japan at this year’s World Cup
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments