For years it has been the missing link in English rugby union. National coaches have been searching for a reliably fit, energetic, top-class specialist openside for so long they had almost given up trying. Could it be they have found him, the one sitting across the table on a cloudy bank holiday in Manchester picking at a huge plate of chicken and veggies? Soon enough everyone will be wanting a piece of Sale’s Tom Curry.
There is, no question, something different about this polite, affable Cheshire-reared prodigy. Before he even takes a mouthful of lunch he springs to his feet and flicks off the switches on two empty power sockets barely in his eyeline. He insists it’s not an OCD thing, it just makes him feel more comfortable. Really? Even before he mentions a few moments later that “learning to switch off mentally is a big thing for me” it is clear relaxation is not his greatest strength.
Down the corridor at Sale’s training HQ at Carrington, the Sharks coaches cannot hide their excitement on the eve of the season. Make that double joy for there are two energetic Currys vying for attention – Tom’s identical twin, Ben, led England Under-20 in the summer while his brother started all three Tests in South Africa. Steve Diamond, Sale’s director of rugby, is not a man for lazy platitudes but even he senses the emergence of something special. “Both of them are going to be world-class players,” he says. “I was here when Mark Cueto and Charlie Hodgson first came through, but these are a different breed to them. In terms of desire, application, maturity – they’re 25-year-old men in 20-year-old bodies – I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Eddie Jones has been similarly impressed with Tom, ranking the flanker among England’s best performers against the Springboks. At the very least the buzzing back-rower showed extraordinary resilience in adversity, putting his body on the line to an almost foolhardy degree. Think Lewis Moody with a slightly wider palate of skills and similar enthusiasm, with a dash of Jonny Wilkinson’s ultra‑committed younger self.
There is no question of club or country holding Curry back: the future has arrived. Already the youngest player to start a Test for England for 90 years, he will pitch up at Harlequins on Saturday completely unfazed at facing seasoned adversaries such as Chris Robshaw or Luke Wallace: “You’ve got to see what’s best for the team, but if you ever get a chance to go up against their seven you’ve either got to smack him or smoke him. You’ve got to win, whether it’s a clean-out, a tackle or a carry. Everyone has to have 100% intent.”
It is this straight-shooting, almost Australian attitude, that Jones clearly loves. Nor is Curry overly bothered about self-preservation, whether it be in games or training. “You can be very good at the breakdown or have extreme speed, but if you’re not rugged and hard you probably won’t get too far. You don’t think about risk. If you do it in training it won’t faze you in the game. I think that’s massive. You can’t train like Tarzan and play like Jane.”
Ever since the twins took their first steps in rugby aged four at the Grasshoppers club in Middlesex it has been a similar all-action story. Their uncle, the former Quins hooker John Olver, represented England and their father, David, who played for Wasps, coached them throughout their junior years. From the start they were shown no paternal favours, being instantly substituted if they ever misbehaved. “I have this memory of us both sitting on the sideline because we’d been fighting,” Tom says. “For some reason I think we were on different sides.”
After the family relocated north – their father is headmaster of Bishop Heber High School in Malpas – the boys represented Crewe & Nantwich before switching to Oundle School (where their uncle was head of rugby) for their A-levels. Playing other sports – cricket, athletics and football – assisted their development as did, according to Tom, the constant sibling rivalry: “Sometimes it is tough when you’ve got your biggest competitor next to you but we wouldn’t be where we are now without each other. If one of us made a mistake it would be: ‘What are you doing? Get your thumb out of your arse.’
“We do push each other. When someone’s going to the gym you’ve got to go as well to make sure you don’t fall behind.”
The other recurring companion has been the nervous energy that afflicts more than one member of the Curry family. “I get it from my dad,” says Tom, sighing. “On matchdays he wakes up at 4am and starts doing the washing. He’s got lucky shirts, lucky pants, the lot.
“I get very nervous before games to the point where I can’t eat or sleep. I like evening kick-offs because it means I can sleep longer and forget about the match.
“I’m a bit of an over-thinker but then again I don’t think I’d be the player I am if I wasn’t nervous. It makes me very switched on before a game.”
Possessing a clear-eyed 360-degree picture of when and where to be most influential on the field is the holy grail for any aspiring openside. It would seem Curry, who will not be 21 until June, already possesses this precious gift. “I’m looking at the bigger picture, where I can make the most impact. There’s as much to be said for someone who can analyse the game in terms of where they’re needed, off the ball as well as on it.”
Might England, with the 2019 Rugby World Cup looming, really have found a natural-born counterpart to David Pocock, Sam Cane and company? And could we be about to see a renaissance of magnificent sevens in this season’s Premiership?
Curry, for one, is cautiously optimistic. “The way the speed of the game is increasing, the ability to have anyone who can slow the ball down and allow the defence to get set is massive. Given how quick the game is probably going to be this season, I think it is going to come round to players like me.”
English rugby’s prayers may just have been answered.
