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Sale reach decision on recruitment after latest Tom Curry injury
Alex Sanderson has come to a decision on whether or not Sale will dip into the short-term recruitment market to replace Tom Curry, the England back-rower whose hip surgery will see him miss the remainder of the 2023/24 season.
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Curry hasn’t played for the Sharks since his return from helping his country to finish third at the recent Rugby World Cup in France. He seized up on the training ground and specialist medical opinion recommended he go for an operation that would sideline him for quite some time but future-proof the 25-year-old’s career in the longer run.
This frustrating loss of their talisman left director of rugby Sanderson with the dilemma of bringing in a fresh signing to make up for Curry’s unavailability or else stick with the back row players they currently have at a club who are seeking to go one better than last season’s final loss to Saracens and win the Gallagher Premiership title.
Sale are currently top of the table after six wins in seven ahead of Friday’s trip to Harlequins, matches in which Ernst van Rhyn and Dan du Preez have been ever-present starters in the back row with Ben Curry and Sam Dugdale starting three each and Rouben Birch starting once.
Sanderson has now confirmed that Sale have called time on bringing in a replacement for Tom Curry, believing they wouldn’t get sufficient value from a new recruit. “Do we get another player and warehouse of him to the detriment of the lads we want to come through and bring through?’ pondered the Sharks boss at his latest midweek media briefing.
“We have looked at the loading of all the lads so far and we have a few to come back a little bit later through injury, JL (du Preez) has been injured, Tom Ellis is out for the next three, four weeks, Ben came back a little bit later.
“The reality is that we are probably looking for a player to help us out in December, because they are starting to fatigue seven games in, through to the end of January and then we have a break. So then would be looking for someone for two months before we freshen them up and go again.
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“Like, this player has to be better than a Ben Curry, an Ernst van Rhyn, a JL du Preez and a Dan du Preez, it’s quite a high bar. I don’t think there are that many, so unless we are going to get someone to add to those four that we couldn’t rotate… bear in mind we have Ben Bamber coming through and Rouben Birch and Sam Dudgale, all really good guys who are young and coming through.
“Like, we’d block their pathway and we would have to rotate a really good player with those four who need the game time anyway and we have only got two months to do it. So you’d be getting someone in for six months, we need them for two. It didn’t make sense financially or by way of loading or warehousing players so we are not on the search – we have called time on that.”
Tom Curry will be one of eight Sale players who will meet with England boss Steve Borthwick next Tuesday at the club’s training ground in Manchester. Manu Tuilagi, Ben Curry, Bevan Rodd, George Ford, Jonny Hill, Joe Carpenter and Tom Roebuck are the others involved in that gathering.
Comments on RugbyPass
Naaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
2 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
142 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
142 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
142 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
142 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
142 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
142 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
142 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
142 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
142 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
142 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
142 Go to commentsHo hum.
142 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
142 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
142 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
142 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
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