The good news for Sale Sharks fans is that Tom Curry’s wrist surgery “has gone really well”. The downside is that they won’t see him in club colours until after the Autumn Nations Series.
Curry underwent surgery on a longstanding wrist ligament injury after the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia, and due to his rehab and England commitments, Sharks Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson is planning on being without one of his star men until the start of December.
England play Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina on consecutive Saturdays in November.
Curry, twin brother Ben, Luke Cowan-Dickie, George Ford and Tom Roebuck are the five Sale players who have been given enhanced England contracts. The contracts, introduced last year, give England final say over the players’ medical care and conditioning, and replace match fees with a fixed annual salary.
Speaking about Curry, who soldiered on through the pain to feature in six Lions matches, including all three Tests, Sanderson admitted: “If we get him back a week before Autumn, it’ll be a surprise to us. I think he will go straight back into international camp in the Autumn.
“He is back in now, doing physio, and is around the place, which is great,” he continued. “Tom’s surgery has gone really well, everything is super positive.”
Curry has defied the medics before in bouncing back from surgery well before schedule, notably when he had a metal rod inserted into his badly damaged hip, and Sanderson says he is showing those same superhuman traits again.
“He will be coming back probably prior to the date that the specialist has scheduled because that’s what he does. But it won’t be in time for the start of the season or anytime before the Autumn.”
Meanwhile, fellow Lion Luke Cowan-Dickie returned to the club fit and well today (Wednesday).
Cowan-Dickie, Tadgh McElroy and Ethan Caine have been joined at the club in the close season by the Sharks’ new signing from Harlequins, Nathan Jibulu.
It makes for a strong set of hookers, but who they’ll be throwing to remains up in the air.
The Sharks have lost the services of Jonny Hill and Jean-Luc du Preez to Top 14 clubs, Josh Beaumont to retirement, and Alex Groves has gone back to South Africa.
Also, the future of Le Roux Roets is unclear. The South African has been dogged by knee issues and, latterly, a disc problem in his back, and hasn’t played for the club in the past 10 months. He is believed to be back in his homeland at the moment.
Sale haven’t recruited any specialist locks this summer, but Sanderson has ruled out any last-minute moves, highlighting the fact that Ernst van Rhyn and new signing Jacques Vermeulen have all stepped up into the second row before.
Sanderson says he can see why people might think the Sharks are light on numbers, but is happy to put his faith in existing second-rows, Hyron Andrews, Ben Bamber and Tom Burrow, as well as following the ‘Leicester model’ of playing hybrid loose forwards.
“Given the quality we have had, with Jonny being there in the past, JL (Jean-Luc du Preez) stepping up, and letting Al Groves go back to South Africa, which has been a great move for him, if you look at it in that aspect, then, yes, you could perceive that being the case,” Sanderson said.
“If you look at who we have got in the wings, lads who we have looked to retain and put our faith into, I don’t think that will be the case moving forward.
“I might be proven wrong and we might need to recruit in-season, maybe, or at the end of the season. But we’ve got Tom Burrow, who featured for the U20s and is a great calling lock; it is always about putting a bit of size on for him so he can handle the physical intensity of the Premiership. So there is a big emphasis on him to grow, and we have put pressure on ourselves to do that. Otherwise, you warehouse players and close the pathway up for them. Keeping that pathway open has worked really well for us so far.
“In and around him, and I think this is the way the game is going, as the international scene dictates, there are perhaps more back five players than out-and-out locks – your George Martins, and for us, your Jacques Vermeulens and your Ernst van Rhyns, who can both play six or tighthead lock.
“And then we have Ben Bamber, who is leaning into calling because he is that height, he is 6’8, and Tom Burrow and Hyron Andrews, so we have three good calling locks there.
“You could say they are a little bit light in terms of weight, Burrow and Hyron, for example (both are around 110kgs), and we’d never play those two together, but you could play a Bamber and a Burrow and a Bamber and a Hyron, or a Jacques Vermeulen and a Burrow and an Ernst van Rhyn and Ben Bamber.
“So, there are combinations that we think are strong enough and at least two to three deep, taking contingencies into account, where we can still compete heavily in that area. We might be proven wrong, but we have put our eggs into that basket.”