DUBLIN — England’s Ben Curry is confident their lineout will hold up just fine against Ireland amid talk the hosts will target that area in Dublin on Saturday.
England have opted for Ben Curry, Tom Curry and Ben Earl in the back-row, a selection which leaves the team light of a specialist lineout option. They’ll come up against a formidable Ireland pack, featuring lineout expertise in Tadhg Beirne, James Ryan and Ryan Baird.
Steve Borthwick is anticipating that Ireland will target England’s lineout on Saturday, and that view is seemingly held by the hosts. Simon Easterby, the Ireland interim head coach, said earlier on Thursday he was surprised by Borthwick’s decision to go with three fetchers in England’s back-row, and said that selection call gave Ireland an opportunity.
But Ben Curry is adamant the team have enough set piece nous to see them prevail. “This is the nice thing, we’ve had two weeks to prepare for this,” he said.
“We don’t get told the team but all of last week me, Ben [Earl] and Tom were in the same pack.
“We’ve had two weeks to prepare our lineout for this. We’re very confident in our preparation. People forget Tom is a very good lineout jumper. He jumped in the World Cup final didn’t he? He has been there before. That probably qualifies him a bit to do that job.”
Relive three classic Six Nations games between Ireland and England ahead of the 2025 tournament this weekend.
Ben and Tom Curry will become the first twins to play for the men’s England team on Saturday. The two were named in the same squad at the start of the autumn internationals for their match against New Zealand, but it was Ben who replaced Tom in the second half.
“We were on the pitch together, but just not playing. He crossed over, I was on, so it kind of counts!
“The original plan was that we were meant to come on at some point together, and then I saw him running and he was knackered, so I thought ‘you’ve screwed this up for us, you’ve had a shocker here!’
“There are pictures of us wearing England kit as babies, so in terms of that stuff it’s really cool. When the team gets announced it does hit home. We’ve been in Girona for the last two weeks, but when the team gets announced you get a flood of messages.
“It does hit home. It has been a dream for a while, and you kind of forget about it, and think ‘is this ever going to happen?’ And then it does and you go ‘right’. Very special.”
Ben said that he used to listen to people constantly comparing his rugby ability with Tom’s. But on Saturday, the two will stand alongside one another for the national anthem (Tom has the better singing voice) and then pack down in the same back-row.
“I struggled with people constantly comparing me to Tom saying ‘oh you need to play like this, Tom is doing this, you need to do that.’ I probably lost myself in that,” Ben Curry said.
“Actually growing up you kind of see it is good to have the fundamental basics but it is also good to have your differences. I think we have found a nice balance at the moment but that will be tested on Saturday.”
– Ireland vs. England: Kick-off time, how to watch, team news
– How Simon Easterby’s Ireland will look without Andy Farrell
– British & Irish Lions: Which Six Nations stars make the squad?
– Why each team will find Six Nations success, and why they won’t
– WATCH: Can Scotland win their first title since 1999? ESPN writers debate
– Six Nations and Women’s Six Nations: Full fixture list
Source: espn.com