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Sale's Tom Curry puts accusations behind him as 6 England stars start in Exeter clash
By Josh Raisey
Six England internationals will all start for Sale Sharks and Exeter Chiefs on Friday in the Gallagher PREM, less than a week after featuring in England’s victory over Argentina.
Luke Cowan-Dickie, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Tom Curry and George Ford will all start for the Sharks at home, having all featured extensively under Steve Borthwick over the Quilter Nations Series.
Curry, who was subjected to accusations of being a “bully” by Argentina boss Felipe Contepomi, and Cowan-Dickie played in all four matches, with two starts for the hooker and four appearances as part of the ‘Pom Squad’ for the flanker. Ford, meanwhile, started in victories over Australia, the All Blacks and Argentina, but was rested for the fixture with Fiji. Opoku-Fordjour, lastly, started in the victory over Argentina, having come on from the bench against Fiji.
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Exeter’s England duo of Henry Slade and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso will also start at the CorpAcq Stadium. Slade only played in the final match of the autumn, while the wing started in all four matches.
The Chiefs will also be boosted by their returning Wallabies duo Tom Hooper and Len Ikitau, while captain Dafydd Jenkins returns after facing the All Blacks last week with Wales.
“Our internationals have all come back into the team environment in good fettle and have been ready to go since our first team meeting on Monday,” said Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter.
“For us, we’ve got to look at this week as an opportunity to make a statement about where we think we are as a group. If we can go up there and perform well, I think it shows where we need to be to be challenging at the top end of the Prem. I’m looking at it as a huge opportunity to do something positive.”
Sale Sharks XV
15. Luke James
14. Tom O’Flaherty
13. Rob du Preez
12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White
11. Alex Wills
10. George Ford
9. Gus Warr
1. Simon McIntyre
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie
3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour
4. Ernst van Rhyn (c)
5. Ben Bamber
6. Jacques Vermeulen
7. Tom Curry
8. Dan du Preez
Replacements
16. Nathan Jibulu
17. Tumy Onasanya
18. James Harper
19. Tom Burrow
20. Hyron Andrews
21. Raffi Quirke
22. Marius Louw
23. Regan Grace
Exeter Chiefs
15 Josh Hodge
14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso
13 Henry Slade
12 Len Ikitau
11 Olly Woodburn
10 Harvey Skinner
9 Charlie Chapman
1 Will Goodrick-Clarke
2 Joseph Dweba
3 Josh Iosefa-Scott
4 Dafydd Jenkins (c)
5 Andrea Zambonin
6 Tom Hooper
7 Ethan Roots
8 Greg Fisilau
Replacements
16 Jack Yeandl
17 Scott Sio
18 Bachuki Tchumbadze
19 Lewis Pearson
20 Kane James
21 Tom Cairns
22 Will Haydon-Wood
23 Ben Hammersley
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