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Ben Curry responds after social media campaign gets him to Japan to watch England twin Tom
By Josh Raisey
Sale Sharks flanker Ben Curry has thanked everyone that was part of the effort to get him to Japan to watch his twin brother Tom play in the World Cup final next Saturday.
After England secured a place in the final in Yokohama by beating the All Blacks last Saturday, a social media campaign #GetBenToJapan emerged.
It culminated with Ben asking Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond whether he could miss Friday’s Gallagher Premiership trip to Ashton Gate to face the Bristol Bears.
The 21-year-old was granted permission and is on his way to Japan. He said on Twitter: “Thank you to all the Sale fans who have been doing their part on social media! Rugby is more than a sport.”
Even with the Curry brothers and loan-signing Mark Wilson unavailable for Sale this weekend, Diamond still has a lot of quality in his back row with Jono Ross and the du Preez brothers, Dan and Jean-Luc.
Meanwhile, Tom is having a barnstorming tournament and is one of the ‘Kamikaze Kids’ alongside Sam Underhill, a name given to the flankers by Eddie Jones.
They were both sensational in the semi-final win against the All Blacks, with Tom proving to be a nuisance at the breakdown and Underhill relentless in defence.
After such a dominant display to dethrone the reigning champions, England now enter the final as favourites against the Springboks, although it will be another almighty test.
Given the circumstances, it is understandable that Ben wants to be in Yokohama to cheer on his brother.
WATCH: Billy Vunipola fronts the media on Tuesday ahead of next Saturday's England versus South Africa World Cup final
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Warren, if you think you should stay on coaching Wales, you are beyond deluded. If you love Wales & Welsh rugby as much as you say you do (& I'm sure you probably do) you should resign immediately so this once proud & passionate rugby nation can rebuild without you. How many of your players will make the British & Irish Lions squad.?
It's time to walk the plank.!
Go to commentsYeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
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