Sale Sharks’ flanker Tom Curry and his identical twin Ben will be on international duty during the Singha Premiership Rugby 7s Series Final in Coventry, but he is confident that his side can still make an impact in the finals.
The Manchester outfit meet Cardiff Blues in the quarter-final on the same day that the Curry brothers fly out for their first overseas tour with England under-18s to South Africa.
And despite his absence, Tom is confident the squad have sufficient depth and quality to replicate the performances that saw them qualify as runners-up from Saturday’s group stage.
“It’s just a shame we’re not here, we’ll be in South Africa but I think we’ve got a really good depth to our squad, especially with the likes of Paolo [Odogwu] scoring tries,” he said.
“We’ve got really good quality and I back us a lot, we’ve just got to bring that mentality from the second two games and we’ve got the depth to play with a few players missing.”
Sharks fell to a 31-12 defeat to hosts Newcastle Falcons in their opening game following a limited warm-up after being delayed by traffic problems on their way to the North East.
But they bounced back and scored 86 points, including 13 tries, in their second two Group D games against Leicester Tigers and Worcester Warriors to progress through to the Singha 7s Final at the Ricoh Arena next Sunday.
A significant part of that comeback, the impressive Curry brothers have been with the Sale Sharks’ academy since the age of 14, with flanker Ben captaining the England under-18s.
And Tom is thrilled that the academy are given a chance to show what they can do as part of the Sharks’ Singha 7s squad.
“The transition has been really nice and we’ve got a really good group of lads, everyone gets on really well which really helps,” he added.
“We’ve come through the ranks together and everyone knows each other and credit to us we’ve got the likes of Paolo and Curtis [Langdon] coming in from other clubs and they’ve gelled really well into the team.”
Eight teams will play for the first silverware of the season in the Singha Premiership Rugby 7s Series Finals from 2pm at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry on Sunday 7 August. Click here for tickets.
