Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson has revealed that Tom Curry’s stint on the sidelines will be extended due to a stem-cell procedure on his chronic hip condition.
The 26-year-old spent most of last season on the sidelines after having career-saving surgery after the Rugby World Cup in France but recovered in time to be involved in England’s mid-year Tests against the All Blacks and also during the Autumn Nations Series matches against New Zealand and Australia.
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Sanderson said Curry will not be in action in Sale‘s Champions Cup clash with Racing 92 on Friday and the latest procedure is part of a plan which is aimed at helping to ensure the player will be ready for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
“He’s having a stem cell procedure, which isn’t a cure, it’s like a medicine really,” Sanderson told the BBC. “It’s to help the bone growth of his previous operation; injecting stem cells into his hip.
“It’s a week completely doing nothing while the bone grows, and then he is back to running.”
Stem-cell treatment is a relatively new procedure aimed at helping repair bodily tissue.
Sanderson is confident Curry will be back in action by Christmas and revealed that he consulted England head coach Steve Borthwick on how to manage the player during the rest of the season.
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“We put a little bit of a plan together, of which the stem-cell procedure is a part of it, then looked at the rest of the season,” Sanderson added.
‘We want to get him to the World Cup’
“Steve Borthwick looked [at the plan] and is 100% behind it. We want to get him to the World Cup without having another operation.”
Although England players have a limit of 30 matches per season, Curry’s injury history and robust style of play means Sanderson will not push him to that total.
“He’ll feature in around 23 games, and 16 of those will be for us,” he said.
“And the rest internationals. So we have figured all that out so we don’t push him to that 30-game max.
“The consideration is he has a chronic injury which he is managing really well, but the more he plays the less shelf-life he has.
“We generally go by the principle it’s going to be three games on one-off, or two on one-off. I don’t think it’s wise [to push his game number to 30].”
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