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The advice Will Carling has given new England skipper Tom Curry
New England skipper Tom Curry has spoken about the advice he has received from the legendary Will Carling which helped him go from a “last resort” choice as Sale skipper last June to now leading his country into battle when the 2022 Guinness Six Nations opens on Saturday away to Scotland. Curry has taken on the responsibility with both Owen Farrell and Courtney Lawes unavailable through injury.
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The decision by Eddie Jones means that the 23-year-old is the youngest player to captain England since Carling himself was appointed in 1988 and Curry spoke on Thursday about the journey he has been on in the past eight months from Sale and the Lions and on into the England leadership group that is regularly advised by Carling, the 1991 World Cup final skipper.
Sale boss Alex Sanderson outlined on Wednesday how he felt Curry has come on massively in terms of the influence he wielded on the group since his return from the Lions tour to South Africa, but the back-rower explained the seeds for his promotion as England captain were actually sown while at his Manchester club at the tail-end of last season’s Gallagher Premiership campaign.
“We had a few injuries in terms of Jono (Ross) and Lood (de Jager), so I basically got to a point where I was last resort. I had a conversation about how Alex didn’t want to distract me or take anything away from my game.
“We had a conversation before that in terms of how do you want to do it [captain the side], how do you want to go about this? I just wanted to be myself and we agreed – and that is what I am really focusing on, how can you do this but stay true to yourself and do it your way?” questioned Curry before answering: “Lead by example. We will find out. It is a journey. For now, that is my focus and how I see it.
“It means a hell of a lot. You grow up wanting to play for England so to be named as captain is pretty emotional but the big thing is that we do a job. Speaking to Will, he has been a really good influence. As a leadership group, we speak to him two or three times a week so we get a lot of advice on how he sees it and how we can improve. He is always asking questions and he has been a great influence on the group as a whole.”
What has Carling’s standout advice been for Curry, a player likened on Thursday by England boss Jones to an early-day Richie McCaw? “Be yourself. Be yourself and enjoy it. I had messages from Jono to Al, Eddie, these voices you listen to and it is pretty similar, it is ‘Be yourself but mostly enjoy it’.”
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Curry also spoke about how he was inspired when he first came on the international scene by the way that regular England skipper Farrell went about the business of captaincy. “Massive in terms of seeing the way he operates when you first came in and seeing how competitive he is day-to-day.
“Everyone is different in terms of their characters and how they are and how they want to be. You draw yourself away from that because everyone is different, so it is finding the way you want to do it, But his competitve spirit is massive and is very inspirational.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments