Tom Curry out for entire season in huge blow to England and Sale

England and Sale have suffered a major blow with the news that Tom Curry will miss the rest of the season with a hip injury.

Curry, 25, has 50 caps for England but is yet to appear for the Sharks in this campaign, having featured at the World Cup.

A hip injury which got worse in the aftermath of the bronze-final victory over Argentina last month has resulted in the flanker requiring a surgical “clear out”, ruling him out of the rest of this season, a further setback in a career which has been pockmarked by injuries.

“Tom needs a clear out of his hip that will put him out for the rest of this season,” said Alex Sanderson, Sale’s director of rugby, who added that Curry will go under the knife the week after next.

“This is the only option,” Sanderson said. “He has been back down to London to have further extensive X-rays under movement with a different consultant and this is the best thing for him in the short term. I know it sounds long term – the season – but it’s not. He is still a young lad and it’s the best thing for him in the short term to ensure he is more robust moving forward to train and progress his game the way he wants to.

“He has just got some wear and tear issues around his socket and a little bone that needs shaving off, cleaning up. My understanding is there are three procedures you can have on your hip of this nature: one is this, which is the least invasive. Then you can have a resurfacing, have a metal resurfacing, and then you can have a hip replacement, so this is the better of lesser evils I guess.

“The level [the stiffness] was at, in this point of time, was new, hence why we have had to send him to specialists; it hadn’t flagged up to this degree until this point in his career. There has always been hip stiffness there… there has always been an element of managing his load because he will just empty the tank and drink deep from the well and this time he was doing the same thing but just not recovering and wasn’t able to do it again and again. The red flags were that maybe there was something deeper here and apparently there is.

“I was more upset than he was. He had reframed himself, was like, ‘OK, this is fine’… I literally see it as a bump in the road for him. He was extremely positive.

“I’m sure there will be ebbs and flows over the next four or five months and I hope to be part of that journey with him as we get him back to where he needs to be. There was no chink in the invincible armour that is Tom Curry, it was like: ‘Right, let’s get it done. Let’s go.’

“I was surprised how quickly he turned himself around. It’s not old news for him now, he has had at least a week to get to grips with what could happen and this is by no means the worst that could happen and he is very positive about getting back and getting back in a Sale shirt. Hopefully towards the back end of this season but if not, he will be good to go next.”

Other flankers who represented Steve Borthwick’s side at rugby’s showpiece last month were Ben Earl, Jack Willis, Lewis Ludlam, Sam Underhill and Courtney Lawes, the latter of whom retired from international rugby after the tournament. Northampton’s Tom Pearson was also singled out for praise by Borthwick during the summer training camp.

At Sale, Curry’s brother, Ben, Jean-Luc du Preez – who is also sidelined with injury – and Sam Dugdale have been the principal occupants of the flanker jerseys so far this season, but Sanderson did reveal the Sharks are “leaning into the possibility” of looking for cover after Curry’s injury was confirmed.

There was better news for Ben Earl on Tuesday, however, as Saracens confirmed the knee injury suffered in the victory over Harlequins last Saturday would rule the flanker out for only six to eight weeks.

Earl, who starred for England at the World Cup in the No 8 position, should return for his club in January, director of rugby Mark McCall confirmed.