Tom Curry

Tom Curry is the defining England flanker of his era — the player every coach since Eddie Jones has picked first and asked questions about later. A Sale Sharks product alongside his twin brother Ben, he was capped at 19, was England’s best forward at the 2019 Rugby World Cup as a 21-year-old, and has since survived the kind of injury list that ends most back-row careers, including hip surgery that cost him almost the whole of 2024.

What makes Curry unusual is that he has no obvious speciality. He is not the fastest openside England have produced, nor the most prolific jackler, nor the biggest hitter — he is simply above the line at everything, every week, for eighty minutes. Coaches talk about his repeat efforts: the third and fourth involvements in the same passage, the tackle followed by the ruck arrival followed by the scramble to the next breakdown. It is the least glamorous excellence in rugby and the hardest to replace.

The 2026 Six Nations was a difficult one for England collectively, and the back row is where Steve Borthwick faces his loudest selection debate, with young opensides pushing hard. Curry’s response has always been the same: play more minutes, make more tackles, say very little. With the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia now the horizon England are building toward, his experience of two World Cup cycles — including a semi-final and a final — is an asset none of his challengers can offer.