Injury-hit Curry is hungry for action

■By ADAM HATHAWAY

TOM Curry‘s injury history will not stop the flanker flying into things when Sale kick off their Prem campaign in a fortnight.

The 28-year-old has also denied Sharks are underachievers as the northerners head into the league season refreshed by the addition of the likes of Courtney Lawes, Joe Marchant and Nicky Smith.

If Sale are going to make a dent in the top four they could do with seeing more of the Curry twins than they did last season. Tom was restricted to nine games for the club after wrist surgery and a calf injury, and Ben turned out just four times because of persistent hamstring trouble.

Tom, who played through that wrist injury on last year’s Lions tour, has also suffered from concussions and a serious hip problem in the past.

But he will not tone down his all-action style a year out from a World Cup even with his chequered medical past.

Curry said: “I never modify anything. I think it’s being more diligent 100 per cent off the field in what you do. There’s only one way to get good and stay good and that’s playing games, so that’s what I want to do.

“I just want to play games, 80 minutes, just play. And I think that’s when you can do that, when you play week in, a week out because then you understand your schedule. I want lots and lots of rugby.”

Fighting fit: Sale flanker Tom Curry

PICTURES: Getty Images

Sale missed out on the play-offs last season for the first time since 2022 and director of rugby Alex Sanderson admitted he was feeling the heat as they slumped to seventh in the table, winning just five games from 18.

Hamstrung: Ben Curry

They conceded 602 points in the Prem, second only to Newcastle, and were 18 points adrift of sixth place Bristol.

With the reinforcements coming in to bolster the squad Curry reckons they can get back on track – and they have been on an upward curve since he emerged as a teenager in 2016.

But the number one priority is fixing the leaky defence as Curry is sick of the points fests that have been served up in the league over the past few years.

He added: “We never want to feel like we did last season again and we are going to have a good crack.

“But I think a lot of people have short memories, especially in my tenure from where we were nine years ago to where we are now. You look at where the club’s been and where it has been previous to that, I think we’re doing an alright job.

“It’s probably picking up from where we left off in terms of last season and the way we changed the game and I thought we were starting to attack better.

“But then you look at the way the game’s going and all the scorelines, you don’t want high scorelines. I don’t know what the fans want, but we don’t. So, we need to evolve that and get that under control as well.”