'Unique, to say the least': The Tom Curry verdict on his World Cup

It’s been a weird existence this year for Tom Curry. He is openly viewed as one of England’s most pivotal players, yet he has been missing in action throughout the majority of 2023. His Guinness Six Nations was cursed, the hamstring on one leg acting the maggot and no sooner had it mended, the hamstring in his other leg then played spoilsport, resulting in him missing the entire campaign.

Then came the Summer Nations Series, a four-game block that ended with him travelling to France as the sole player in the England 33 who didn’t play a single minute. A pesky ankle ache was the reason, and it was just his rotten luck that an even worse setback was immediately lurking around the corner.

Chosen to start versus Argentina in the tournament opener in Marseille, he lasted less than three minutes on the field as an initially yellow-carded tackle on Juan Cruz Mallia was soon upgraded in the bunker to a red card offence.

It was only last Saturday in Lille that he finally made his return to playing, starting at openside versus Samoa. Even then, it wasn’t plain sailing, a cut over the left eye requiring five stitches on the run.

That wound was still healing when he briefly held court in midweek in Aix-en-Provence as England got down to the business of preparing for next Sunday’s quarter-final versus Fiji, a match back in Marseille where the referee will be Mathieu Raynal, the official who flashed the red card at Curry only five weeks ago.

This refereeing renewal was naturally referenced given how the breakdown is set to be a massive factor in deciding who progresses to the semi-finals in Paris. “The best way to do it is to leave him out of it completely and that is by making good decisions, following his trends but ultimately it is making good decisions,” explained Curry when asked what the approach should be towards handling the French official.

“Who doesn’t want good decisions whether it is a referee or a player? To do that you have got to be dominant physically, you have got to be working together. All those things come into play so that you are not leaving it to someone else’s decision.

“It’s your decision… We have just got to make sure we get the ball lift. In terms of referees at the minute and what they are seeing, it is to make sure we get the ball lift, so that is going to be important. Honestly, they [the referees] are rewarding good decisions, it has been very consistent so just make sure we are making good decisions.”

It sounds crazy given his three-game ban, a sanction reduced to two via his attendance at tackle school, but Curry claims to have enjoyed his World Cup experience. “Are we still talking about this [the card]? I went up for a tackle, tried to tackle him, mistimed it and we clashed heads.

“It’s been unique, to say the least, but you know in terms of enjoyment and how much I have learned it is up there. I have really enjoyed myself here.

“Playing is obviously the best thing but be able to train and get out there with the lads, that’s the important thing. Injuries, you get locked away in the gym but when you are banned you can still rip in and help out.

“That was the important thing, that was what helped me the most. You’re able to train, you’re able to gym. It’s not like an injury where it holds you back. Apart from 80 minutes on a Saturday, you are able to rip in. That helped me a lot.

“We have got a good group as well. The lads who aren’t playing as well are able to buy in, not just sit around waiting. It was a good group of us that were able to go after it and get it. That’s helps especially. It’s not just me, it was a group. For us to get around each other and attack the week, help the lads get better, helped us ultimately get better as well and that was very important.”

Enough of the recent past. This World Cup right now is all about next Sunday and winning. Already there has been so much hype about Fiji's Levani Botia and the breakdown menace he wields. That’s a challenge Curry and co are ready to happily embrace.

“It’s going to be exciting,” he enthused. “Obviously Botia but aside from him they have got other threats and that is the important thing. It’s going to be a hell of a challenge and it starts before the breakdown in terms of us getting our own stuff right because if we do that that will put us in a good position to stop that and go after them.

“It’s not as easy as football where you can just stand with someone, it’s kind of a whole team thing and we have first and foremost mentioned it. We have spoken about it as a team but it boils down to what we do. You don’t know which version of him [Botia] will turn up so we have got to make sure that we are on it and that we control attack first and foremost and then afterwards going into the breakdown.”

What makes Botia and his knack of stealing the ball so special? “The way he reads the game," reckoned Curry. “Ultimately, how do I say this, he is brilliant in terms of making decisions. If we are able to manage that and his decision-making, that will put us in really good stead, in a really good position.

“He is brilliant at what he does, he is strong first and foremost. If he gets over that ball he is hard to move so for us, first and foremost in terms of our attack and how we get in there, our speed, our physicality, we will have to be up there because he is a great player when he is over the ball.

“We learned a lot from last week going into this week. It [Samoa] was a brilliant test for us. It's about doing it with each other, we are not going out there to kind of be one person getting those turnovers or fly out of the line and leave gaps because they are brilliant when they are on the front foot so defensively we have got to get it right.

“That’s kind of what Portugal did (when they beat Fiji last Sunday night), they were physical up front and then they were able to dominate the breakdown. It doesn’t work the other way around. You don’t dominate the breakdown and then get physical so for us our defence, it is going to be huge this week.

“You look at South Africa and France and their physicality and their ability to get front foot and then stay on top, and Fiji are doing that really well. It probably doesn’t get spoken about as much as the fancy stuff, the offloads and shipping the ball, mispasses. For me, that’s a really important part of the game.

“It’s exciting,” he added about the prospect of tasting knockout rugby again four years after England went all the way to the 2019 final in Japan. “These games you love to play in. Growing up as a kid and watching the World Cup, knockout rugby is where you want to be.

“There is definitely a huge excitement leading into this game. But again, you want to, what’s the word, you want to grab hold of that and run with it, I personally think. We don’t want to go out of control, we want to do what we have been practicing for the last two or three months, but that excitement can only be a positive.

“Honestly, we’re a different team in terms of selection and how much time we have spent with each other after, we’re a different team,” he added, referencing England's 22-30 Summer Nations Series defeat to Fiji on August 26. “You learn a lot, especially last week and the week before, you are always constantly learning so it can only help. They [Fiji] have probably got better and we have got better so we will find out Sunday.

“As that whistle goes it [the atmosphere] blocks out. I know it sounds really cliché, but we had it in the first game against Argentina. The booing and stuff, lads were smiling.

"It’s an exciting time, whether that is people like you or they don’t, it doesn’t matter. It’s just an exciting game, quarter-final. Where else would you rather be? As long as you have got your family and your friends behind you which I hope they are, I know they are, it’s going to be exciting.”

It sure will.