England are making changes to Tom Curry’s all-action technique to ensure his safety after he returned to the fold for Sunday’s clash with Japan following his latest concussion.
Curry sat out last weekend’s defeat by South Africa after sustaining a head injury in a collision with Australia’s Rob Valetini in the previous week’s loss against the Wallabies. The 26-year-old, who missed almost all of last season with a debilitating hip injury that nearly forced him into retirement, has a history of head injuries and sustained a concussion in Sale’s opening match of the season against Harlequins.
Curry also flew home early from England’s 2022 tour of Australia after sustaining a third concussion in the space of six months, but while Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is absent from this week’s squad having also suffered a head injury against the Wallabies, the openside flanker could return against Eddie Jones’s Japan this weekend having successfully come through the return-to-play protocols. Feyi-Waboso, who is studying medicine, made headlines earlier this year when effectively ruling himself out of England’s final Six Nations match against France on concussion grounds.
Curry was dubbed one of the “Kamikaze Kids” by Jones, along with Sam Underhill, for his fearless approach, while the Sale director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, said on the eve of the Premiership season that “his ability to go after everything with everything he’s got was to some degree breaking his body apart”.
Explaining the adjustments made to Curry’s game, the England assistant coach Andrew Strawbridge was adamant no chances were being taken with the flanker. “It’s not my area of expertise but what I do know is that there is not a coach on the planet that isn’t desperately concerned about the welfare of the players they coach,” said Strawbridge. “He’s been through every protocol that exists and we’re making some finer adjustments about how he enters contact – both sides of the ball – to keep himself safe. He’s 100% fit, healthy and ready to go.
“There are some fundamental aspects to contact. Some of the bravest men are some of the most at risk, so how do we mitigate the risk? How do we keep him finding his shoulder, rather than head? Tiny little things, it’s not a major change in a man’s game. There are some little issues that’ll bring his shoulder into the game, which is what we all want, and take his head out of the game, if possible. There’s no major issue at all.”
England face Japan on the back of five straight defeats and New Zealander Strawbridge, who also works as coaching adviser, has admitted that Borthwick and his assistants are under the pump. Having previously worked for the All Blacks when Ian Foster was facing the sack in 2022, however, Strawbridge was adamant the coaches could handle their current plight. “We’re feeling a little bit of heat at the moment as a coaching group,” added Strawbridge. “Our challenge is to remain true to what we believe in as coaches and teachers and behavioural specialists.
“I don’t think the heat is any more or less than it ever is in Test rugby, honestly. Ian Foster went to South Africa [in 2022] being told that there was an expectation he resigned after the second Test. That is heat. That is fucking heat. He dealt with that really well, maturely; back-against-the-wall stuff. I’m not comparing environments – it’s not my job. My job is to help and assist. You cannot afford to be too externally focused – we have stuff to do here. You can’t take your eye off the ball. It’s almost self-indulgent.”
