Tom Curry is expected to come straight into England’s starting lineup for their World Cup opener against Argentina on Saturday after recovering from an ankle injury, with Steve Borthwick seeking to shore up his side’s leaky defence.
England have shipped 30 tries in their last nine matches including 12 in their four warm-up fixtures, and after their most recent outing – the humiliating 30-22 defeat by Fiji at Twickenham – Borthwick vented his frustration at the 27 missed tackles.
Curry sustained an ankle injury in training a month ago and as a result he has not taken to the field since Sale’s defeat in the Premiership final at the end of May. After struggling with hamstring injuries earlier in the year he has not appeared for England under Borthwick to date. With the team desperately in need of reinforcement, however, the defence coach, Kevin Sinfield, has welcomed the timely return of the 25-year-old back-rower.
“We just miss Tom Curry the player,” said Sinfield. “He speaks very well, he tidies a lot of things up, he is an incredible athlete and he does things a lot of other players can’t do. Being a defence coach, people back home might see different things than I do; the nitty-gritty stuff that is really important, that pulls teams together, Tom does every single day, in many different actions. Just to have him available [is a plus].
“What it does, and why we have seen a little lift in intensity this week, would be around competition for places. You suddenly throw Tom back out there and he is in the mix and there are a couple of back-rows looking over their shoulder and understanding they have got to raise their game.”
Sinfield added: “Throughout my experience of being a player, the best teams I was involved in was when there were some wonderful names getting left out of a team. It shows the strength of your squad and having Tom available means there is a good-quality player who is going to be left out.
“We’ve just got to get better across the board in our defence. I won’t hide or shy away from that. We missed too many tackles last time out and that’s something we’ve got to rectify. I’m firmly in there with the players. I’m accountable, I’m responsible.”
Meanwhile, Marcus Smith is expected to continue his role as replacement full-back, with Sinfield heralding the Harlequins playmaker as a “magician” capable of kickstarting England’s misfiring attack.
Smith has appeared off the bench in England’s last two matches against Ireland and Fiji, coming on at full-back and catching in the eye in both games. “You’ll have all seen what a magician he is with the ball: step off both feet, quick, can beat the opposition for fun,” said Sinfield, who revealed it was he who first suggested the role to Smith. “So why not try to give him a bit more time and space than he would typically get at 10, try to get him a little bit wider.
“We have been working on it for some weeks now with him in training. He’s been incredible at the back. So to have him in the team and available, to have the option of him either coming on at 10 or 15, has been really good for us.”
