Advertisement
If you watched England vs Fiji last weekend, you probably went through all five stages of rugby fandom: excitement, frustration, shouting at the TV, brief hope, and finally googling “Can stress cause hamstring tightness?”.
England won, technically. But as the old saying goes, “a win’s a win, unless you’re about to play New Zealand.” I never got that old saying, times have changed, but New Zealand remains world class.
With the All Blacks incoming, all eyes turn to the part of England’s machine that decides whether they soar or sink: the back row. And at the heart of it all? Tom Curry, England’s tireless flanker who treats rucks like they owe him money.
Against Fiji, England’s back row was like an over-caffeinated demolition crew, lots of energy, not as much smashing at times, compared to their Fijian adversaries. Chandler Cunningham-South thundered into tackles like he’d been fired out of a cannon, auditioning at 8, with an eye on Saturday. Ben Earl ran as if his boots were jet-powered, seriously he could play in every position and Guy Pepper reminded us he’s legally required to hit someone every 30 seconds. Bosh.
And then there was Tom Curry. Back from injury, playing with that familiar combination of intensity and mild fury, he didn’t just tackle, he ambushed. When asked after the game about England’s inconsistency, Curry gave the most Curry-ish answer possible:
“Exciting thing is, we’re all chipping in helping each other learn the roles, and then we mauled them!.”
Translation: We’re not sleeping on our efforts.
Let’s be honest, England’s back row options are getting spicier. Even without the Willis Brothers, Who do we have? :
Tom Curry, the turnover king and breakdown gremlin.
Chandler Cunningham-South, the wrecking ball with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
Henry Pollock, the young gun who thinks “offload” is a verb, a lifestyle, and a philosophy.
Guy Pepper, the bench bouncer who looks like he’d tackle his own shadow if it stepped out of line.
There’s serious substance. England’s recent wobbles have shown that without a dominant back row, the rest of the team plays like a Wi-Fi signal in a concrete bunker. They need Curry’s relentlessness, Chandler’s carries, Pollock’s spark, and Pepper’s late-game bite to compete with New Zealand’s relentless tempo. Ben Earl is Ben Earl. I’m expecting a masterclass at Allianz Twickenham.
Curry went on to tell me, post match vs Fiji “We’re all there backing each other up and it’s an exciting place to be. Where we are as a group, is that we can chop and change, work together.”
France? Top 14? Whatchu talking about, Willis?
Ah, New Zealand. The team that turns your minor errors into highlight reels. The black-clad rugby deity that keeps English forwards awake at night muttering “counter-ruck” in their sleep.
Jamie George says the team is “more player-led now,” which is captain-code for “Tom Curry will probably set the tone by colliding with a mountain in the opening minute.”
If England’s to win, it won’t be just from the flashy superstars.. It’ll come from the ugly stuff, the rucks, the graft, the unglamorous grunt work. That’s Curry’s playground. And if history’s any guide, he quite likes it there. I’d still love a drop goal.
Let’s take a brief trip down memory lane, back to Yokohama, Japan to the 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-final. England 19, New Zealand 7.
The day England played rugby perfection, and the All Blacks looked like they’d accidentally wandered into someone else’s nightmare.
At the centre of it all? A fresh faced Tom Curry, breaking things (legally) and stealing balls like a man possessed. Maro Itoje got the headlines, Manu Tuilagi scored the important try, with George Ford in perfect kicking sync, but Curry was everywhere: tackling, jackalling, bouncing back up, and doing it all again before the cameras could find him.
The All Blacks looked shell-shocked. As one post-match report put it, “they didn’t seem able to fix on anyone.” Probably because Tom Curry had already tackled them all.
England’s back row are the unsung rockstars. They don’t score the tries or do the post-match TikToks, but they make the magic possible.
As the All Blacks loom, England don’t need miracles, they need muscle memory, mental steel, and a bit of that 2019 Yokohama swagger. And as long as Tom Curry is prowling around the pitch like a caffeinated wolf, there’s always hope.
And if they pull it off again against the All Blacks? Run. It. Back.
Someone better start engraving Curry, Chef of Chaos on the man-of-the-match trophy right now.