{"id":288731,"date":"2025-11-28T23:31:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T23:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/288731\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T23:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T23:31:10","slug":"tom-curry-in-hot-water-again-as-exeter-pull-off-dramatic-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/288731\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Curry in hot water again as Exeter pull off dramatic comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Curry\u2019s turbulent week continued as he was sent to the sin-bin during a dramatic victory for Exeter Chiefs over his Sale Sharks side, only five days on from the Twickenham row that overshadowed England\u2019s win against Argentina.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old flanker, making his first Prem appearance of the season, was shown a yellow card inside the fifth minute for a dangerous challenge on Josh Hodge, the Exeter full back.<\/p>\n

Curry could not hide his frustration at the referee Anthony Woodthorpe\u2019s decision, but the real drama came during the second half as Exeter hit back from 26-6 down to clinch a quite stunning victory. <\/p>\n

Curry, such a fierce competitor, featured off the bench in all four of England\u2019s autumn international victories and was this week named in the World Rugby Dream Team of 2025.<\/p>\n

But after the storm that raged in the wake of England\u2019s 27-23 triumph last Sunday, which ended in an alleged tunnel bust-up and the Pumas head coach, Felipe Contepomi, labelling him a bully<\/a>, Curry could have done without being centre stage for all the wrong reasons once again.<\/p>\n

Hodge was initially able to continue after Curry\u2019s challenge, although he was replaced at half-time, and on a bitterly cold night on the outskirts of Salford it took two star-studded teams much of the first period to warm to their task.<\/p>\n

\"Harvey<\/p>\n

Exeter sealed their fourth win in six games and looked to have turned a corner after last season\u2019s struggles<\/p>\n

CARL RECINE\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

In the end it was Rob Baxter\u2019s visiting team who emerged victorious after showing remarkable spirit to win the contest with three second-half tries.<\/p>\n

Sale named Curry, George Ford, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Asher Opoku-Fordjour in their line-up, while two of their England colleagues, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Henry Slade, started for Exeter.<\/p>\n

\"George<\/p>\n

Ford failed to keep up the winning habit after England\u2019s triumphant autumn clean sweep<\/p>\n

JAN KRUGER\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

After Curry was sent to the sin-bin, Slade kicked the penalty to put the visiting side ahead, but Ford landed four first-half penalties for Sale and converted Luke James\u2019s 24th-minute try. The homegrown full back showed delightful speed and skill to scythe through a leaden-footed Exeter defence to score the only try of the first half.<\/p>\n

Exeter\u2019s cause was not helped by an 11th-minute yellow card for Tom Hooper, the Australia flanker, for a late hit on his opposite number, Jacques Vermeulen.<\/p>\n

Sale extended their lead seven minutes after the interval when Alex Wills, the wing, touched down in the left corner and Ford\u2019s conversion made it 26-6.<\/p>\n

\"Sale<\/p>\n

Deputising for the injured Roebuck on the wing, Wills took his chance to extend Sale\u2019s lead early in the second half with a sensational finish<\/p>\n

JAN KRUGER\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

But Exeter replied through Jack Yeandle\u2019s close-range try as the hour mark approached and Slade\u2019s conversion cut Sale\u2019s advantage to 13 points.<\/p>\n

Olly Woodburn\u2019s acrobatic finish, converted by Slade, then cut the gap further before Scott Sio\u2019s close-range try gave Slade the chance to win it for Exeter.<\/p>\n

He took it, kicking the conversion that made it 27-26 to Baxter\u2019s side, inflicting only Sale\u2019s second defeat at home in the Prem since January 2024 as Exeter won on the road in the league for the first time since April of the same year.<\/p>\n

Scorers: Sale Sharks: Tries James (25min), Wills (47). Cons Ford 2. Pens Ford 4. Exeter Chiefs: Tries Yeandle (55), Woodburn (62), Sio (70). Cons Slade 3. Pens Slade 2.<\/p>\n

Sale L James; O\u2019Flaherty, R du Preez, R Ma\u2019asi-White, A Wills; G Ford (M Louw 62min), G Warr (R Quirke 65); S McIntyre, L Cowan-Dickie, A Opoku-Fordjour (J Harper 12), E van Rhyn, B Bamber, J Vermeulen, T Curry (sin-bin 5-15), D du Preez (T Burrow 62).<\/p>\n

Exeter J Hodge (B Hammersley 41); I Feyi-Waboso, H Slade, L Ikitau, O Woodburn; H Skinner, C Chapman; W Goodrick-Clarke (Sio 51), J Dweba (J Yeandle 51), J Iosefa-Scott, D Jenkins, A Zambonin, T Hooper (sin-bin 11-21), E Roots, G Fisilau.<\/p>\n

Referee A Woodthorpe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Curry\u2019s turbulent week continued as he was sent to the sin-bin during a dramatic victory for Exeter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-288731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}