Tom Curry boost for England with flanker set to return for Sale before the end of the season… with Sharks boss Alex Sanderson ‘in awe’ at his recovery from career-threatening hip injury

Tom Curry is making such an astonishing recovery from a career-threatening hip injury that he could make a comeback for Sale this season and become available for England’s summer tour.

The 25-year-old flanker hasn’t played since the World Cup last October, having returned to his club and discovered what he later described as a ‘car crash’ medical predicament. 

Curry had a six-hour operation in a quest to ensure he could play again and once it was deemed to have been a success, the initial prognosis was that he would miss at least the rest of the current domestic campaign, with fears that he could face far longer out of action.

Instead, the 50-cap openside veteran has made phenomenal progress since the surgery and his Sale director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, has revealed that after Ben Curry returned to training from his own injury on Wednesday, twin brother Tom could make a return far sooner than expected.

‘He’s doing really well,’ he said. ‘He was away in the wilderness rehabbing, for a few months. We would see him come in and go out. But Tom is very much back in the fold, which I’m very grateful for. 

The 25-year-old is making an astonishing recovery from a career-threatening hip injury

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson says Curry could return sooner than expected

‘He is bombing around, his hip looks good and his brother was back in training today as well, which is great. 

‘Now there is an outside chance of Tom coming back at the end of this season and making a final or two, if we get there – when we get there!’

Sanderson was asked how Tom Curry has coped with the emotional turmoil of finding out that his career was in jeopardy, then that he might be unable to play for a year and now that he is flying towards a much earlier comeback. ‘So well,’ he added.

‘His brain chemistry is a bit different. His ability to set new horizons and break things down into smaller, achievable goals is unsurpassed. If anyone was going to get over a career-threatening injury, it was going to be Tom. And he’s doing it. I’m not surprised, but I am in awe.

‘He’s that kind of man. He did that hip (injury) at the World Cup and I know it was unbelievably painful. He was walking like an old man, but he pushed himself through that to get England to where they got to (semi-final).’