Sale explain 'getting rinsed' reason why Tom Curry won't face Saracens

Tom Curry won’t make his eagerly awaited comeback when Sale visit Saracens next Saturday looking for a result to qualify them for the Gallagher Premiership semi-finals. Saturday’s showdown at the StoneX is a repeat of last year’s final at Twickenham.

However, the Sharks will go into the rematch without their fit-again England back-rower even though they know a loss to the second-place Londoners will leave them tumbling out of the play-off picture on the final day of the regular season.

Curry hasn’t played any rugby since last October’s Rugby World Cup bronze medal final win for England versus Argentina in Paris. After that tournament, he returned to training at Sale and expected a busy winter with the Manchester club.

However, he soon seized up on the training ground and a specialist medical opinion resulted in him undergoing hip surgery – quite a big deal for someone who is still only 25 years old.

At the time Curry was expected to be ruled out for the remainder of the season but his rehabilitation was so positive that there was talk that he was set to play in last Friday’s home win over Leicester at the AJ Bell.

Curry himself nipped that potential return in the bud over a Thursday morning coffee with his club boss Alex Sanderson and rather than pencil in this weekend’s massive match at Saracens as his comeback date, it was further decided to instead wait until a possible semi-final on the weekend of June 1.

Asked at his latest media briefing on Tuesday afternoon if Curry was available to play at the StoneX, Sanderson said: “I might as well call it, no, he is not.

"He’s not far off but unfortunately, he hasn’t made it. We haven’t done enough rugby exposure with him for him to feel confident but he is moving incredibly well – he is having a pre-season style week.

“Like, he’s getting rinsed and that is what we wanted to happen to him. He came in this morning, I saw him and went, ‘How are you feeling?’

"He said, ‘Really stiff’. ‘Well, you asked for it’. And he was doing extras at the end of the session today, so he is there or thereabouts. We’ll make a call if and when we give ourselves an opportunity to play a semi-final.”

Sanderson explained what had happened following last week’s initial enthusiasm that Curry could be back to face the Tigers. “We were talking last Wednesday night because he was moving so well, Nav (Sandhu, the Sale physio) was getting really excited. ‘How good is this? You’re back, mate!’

“That was like five o’clock Wednesday night and then I got a text at 7.30pm and he was like, ‘Can we meet for a coffee?’ Then it was a proper chat without the emotion. Like, what is the best for Tom Curry?

"I think 18 months ago, before his consecutive hamstring pulls and all these things that were related to his pelvic girdle and his hip, he said he would have probably gone and done it [played].

“We feel this [not playing] is a growth in terms of his maturity and doing what the right thing for him is to ensure he doesn’t play under par and he has got a lot more years in him rather than burning himself out.”

With England set to tour after the club season is over, taking on Japan on June 22 in Tokyo before travelling to face the All Blacks twice in July, has there been a conversation with Curry over possibly going on the trip as part of Steve Borthwick’s squad despite him not yet making his club return to play?

“We are (talking) from a medical perspective, I haven’t from a rugby and coaching perspective yet.

"I broached the subject last Thursday in Gail’s in Knutsford and he was like, ‘Let’s just focus on me getting ready for a possible semi-final, and then we will talk about summer’. So he is very much in the moment at the moment, doesn’t want to focus too far ahead.”