We knew Tom Curry was battling through the pain barrier for the British & Irish Lions this summer but only now has the full truth been revealed: he was “basically playing without a ligament in his wrist”.
As The Times reported last week, Curry is unlikely to be seen in action until England’s November fixtures, missing Sale Sharks’ early-season games as he slowly builds back from the surgery to his right wrist he underwent four weeks ago.
He had decided not to opt for an operation at the back end of last season as there would be no time to recover for the Lions. Curry often dismisses the chance to provide more details about his fitness in the heat of the season — “I’m fine” is his stock answer, despite various misfortunes from his degenerative hip issue to this dodgy wrist.
However Alex Sanderson, his director of rugby at Sale, has revealed the true extent of Curry’s latest issue. “Every time he was going to a tackle, it [the wrist] was, like, dislocating,” he tells The Ruck, The Times’s rugby podcast, which will preview the new Gallagher Prem season next week.
“He was basically playing without a ligament in his wrist. You could feel it clicking in and clicking out. Super hard, isn’t he? Superhuman. It defies logic, really, but he’s always been one of those guys that can push himself through pain barriers that most mere mortals can’t. He’s just shown that again.”
This new context makes Curry’s performances in the Lions Test series, in which they defeated the Wallabies 2-1, utterly remarkable. Equally, as much as you can admire him deeply for this, it is reasonable to feel uneasy about just how prepared he is to play through considerable pain. Sanderson falls on the side of admiration, and always has done.
As for Curry, he never doubted that he would strap up and play on.
Curry steps inside Australia scrum half Jake Gordon to score for the Lions in the second Test in Melbourne
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
“We knew about five or six weeks before the tour that it was there,” he says. “The question was either get it operated on before the tour or crack on. Obviously the competition was so high so we couldn’t really risk the surgery. There was no other choice. In hindsight, I’m glad we did it.
“I had surgery four weeks ago, to repair a ligament which was gone. It was alright to manage. The Saturday was just a local anesthetic so you actually couldn’t feel it, it was more the Monday to Friday. It got there in the end.”
One issue was the strapping he had to wear to protect himself.
“We had this cast which we had to change in Sydney, because we realised that I wasn’t actually catching that many balls,” Curry says, laughing at himself now. “We had this thick one that covered my palm and it was really tough because I had to catch it with my fingertips. I remember playing in the Argentina game [in Dublin in June] and I kept dropping it.
“Anyway, we got it right. It kept getting bigger and bigger, and it covered the back of my wrist, which definitely helped as you could actually feel the ball.”
Curry was not 100 per cent fit for the series but was still one of the best players from either side
DAVID DAVIES/PA
Curry could have quite easily been named man of the series, but that honour went to Tadhg Beirne. He kicked off the series with a belting tackle on James Slipper within the opening 20 seconds, and Beirne won the turnover at the next ruck, Finn Russell kicked the penalty for a 3-0 lead and the tone was set.
Watching at home, knowing he was not remotely 100 per cent fit, Sanderson was “in awe” of Curry.
“That’s Tom at his best,” he said. “That’s with a poor wrist and on the back of a lot of pressure as well.”
Curry was fuelled by a perception — created for him by the Lions management — that everyone doubted and disrespected his talent, and thought Jac Morgan should play instead of him, when that was not the case. That narrative worked a treat, as Curry had a stormer as the Lions beat Australia 27-19 at the Suncorp Stadium. Afterwards, Curry was still fuming at the perceived criticism, giving a series of one-word answers in a post-match interview.
Curry is unlikely to return to action until England’s autumn internationals in November
BILLY STICKLAND/INPHO
The next question for Curry, Sale and England will define the next stage of his career. How to manage Curry or to save him from himself? We know he will always agree to play, so who will protect him when he really should not?
Curry played in 29 matches for club, country and Lions in 2024-25, one game under the suggested player match limit. He starred in the Six Nations for England, helped Sale to the play-off semi-finals and then dominated for the Lions. The plan worked.
He is still only 27, but needs such careful management. Curry is, then, the bellwether test of whether club and country can work together under the new Professional Game Partnership, where England stars are on hybrid contracts, giving the national team a greater say over their level of activity.
But, like other coaches, Sanderson believes that means England should sometimes miss out on Curry, rather than it always being Sale.
Curry played in 29 matches for club, country and Lions in 2024-25, one game under the suggested player match limit
DAVID ROGERS/GETTY IMAGES
“This is the ongoing conversation that we’ll have with Steve [Borthwick, England head coach],” Sanderson says. “England have preferential jurisdiction over his medical rehab and his physical development. They get to choose — and they should, in that sense, because they’re paying money towards his contract — to prioritise the World Cup and internationals.
“At the moment, it’s up to us to come up with a plan around Tom over the next two years or certainly over the next season. Last year, it worked for him. And looking back at it, he probably played a few games more than we would have wanted him to, still under the 30-game threshold.
“But given the ferocity at which he plays, we were thinking maybe 25 games and he was pushing that 30-game barrier. So there’s still work to be done. I’m sure we’ll get to a decent compromise.”
Here’s hoping that when Curry returns in November, he stays as close to 100 per cent fitness as possible. Imagine how well he could play then?