Tom Curry and Sam Underhill go into the World Cup final likened to two of the greatest players ever to grace their position.
Dubbed England’s ‘kamikaze kids’ by Eddie Jones, the pair have only been Test players for two years and were just five and six respectively when England last won the Webb Ellis Cup.
But they have made such an impact in this tournament that they are now 80 minutes away from achieving legendary status.
Richie McCaw is New Zealand’s two-time World Cup-winning captain and most-capped player, David Pocock has 83 caps for Australia and possesses a similar 24 carat reputation.
Yet asked who he is reminded of when he watches Sale flanker Curry, 21, and Bath openside Underhill, 23, England defence coach John Mitchell said: “There’s a lot of McCaw and a lot of Pocock in them - but they’re quicker.”
Only four players have made more turnovers than Curry, while Underhill’s 62 tackles leave him eight off top spot, despite England having played a game fewer due to Typhoon Hagibis claiming their pool match with France.
Curry’s week got even better yesterday when his club Sale responded to the social media campaign #GetBenToJapan by allowing his identical twin brother Ben to take the weekend off and fly to Japan to attend the game.
Ben was supposed to be playing for Sharks against Bristol on Friday night but will instead join his mum and dad, sister, cousins and god parents in Yokohama.
He said: “I get loads of texts and (the campaign) starts building and then I have this conversation with my parents and my agent who is like, it’s one of these things you’re going to regret if you don’t even at least ask.
“It’s bigger than anything in sport so I just had to ask the question and Sale were… I can’t even explain my gratitude towards them for letting me go.”
A good few compliments have been paid to Owen Farrell’s England team since their sensational semi-final defeat of New Zealand - all well merited.
“There is a lot of noise, a lot of pats on the back,” Mitchell conceded. “But you’ve got to park all that and stay focused.
“Nothing changes. The reality is that we have presented ourselves with another opportunity at the right end of the tournament. But we’ve got to stay on process.”
His message was picked up by Courtney Lawes, whose previous two World Cup campaigns with England ended in recrimination and humiliation for the Red Rose brigade.
The Northampton star said: “We know we’ve got the opportunity to make history but it’s not just going happen.
“The good thing about this team is we are used to not getting ahead of ourselves. We know that there is a way we’re going to have train this week, and things we have to do, to put ourselves in the best position to come away with a win and make history.
“South Africa are tough guys, they’re brought up tough and they play tough,” he added. “But so do we.”
