This season Tom Curry has established himself as England’s present and future openside flanker, all but sewn up a World Cup place and been nominated for Land Rover Discovery of the Season for his performances with Sale.

And yet the youngest forward to represent England in more than a century insists that the season will not be a success if the Sharks do not qualify for Europe.

To be guaranteed a place in the Champions Cup, Sale will have to beat Gloucester on the final weekend of the Premiership season, with the Cherry & Whites heading to the AJ Bell Stadium on Saturday.

After two weeks to prepare, Curry is adamant the Sharks are ready to secure their return to Europe’s top table.

Curry said: “Team preparation has been really good this week so we’re feeling good. We’ve mostly been concentrating on ourselves.

“With two weeks’ preparation you don’t want to be dragged into the detail of the opposition too much because there is only so much you can really cover.

“So there is a lot of focus on ourselves and how smooth we can run our plays. How connected we can all get as teammates is huge in terms of a week off, and then this week we’ve been firing into the detail of what we can get out of Gloucester.

“I’m not really thinking about too much other than winning against Gloucester. This season will mean a lot more to me if we win.”

It has been an up and down season for Sale, who have flirted with the top four and being dragged into a relegation dogfight with an unusually congested middle of the table.

Victories at home to Saracens and away to Gloucester underlined the Sharks’ ability to challenge the best on their day, but they also shipped 67 points in a defeat away to Northampton Saints.

Curry admits that Sale will have to become more consistent next season, and their cause should be aided by the arrival of a trio of South African brothers, back-row twins Jean-Luc and Dan du Preez, and older brother and fly-half Robert.

Jean-Luc and Robert both spent time with the Sharks this season, and Curry believes their arrival can only drive standards up.

He added: “A lot of people are doing well this season which is good. Then we’ve got signings coming into complement the squad which is hugely encouraging, especially in terms of competition for places so the club is moving forward.

“Jean-Luc has been involved in the international set-up so having that sort of knowledge around was really good.

“Whenever you get such high standards of player, it drives training up and the standard of performance up as well. So it’s nothing but good for the club and the players here.”

For Curry, this campaign has been a landmark one, after he forced his way into the England set-up and starred during the Six Nations.

So impressive was the 20-year-old that he was nominated for the Player of the Championship award, and the confidence gleaned has left him feeling good ahead of a World Cup in Japan.
He added: “You never expect to play for England, particularly with the competition around. It’s about trying to get better week in, week out.

“I was happy and I think I learned a lot during the Six Nations. I can take that forward and keep getting better.

“Playing five games on the bounce almost at such a physical level, it gave me a lot of confidence in my body that I could do that. Being able to not fade away and being able to train at such level for that amount of time, it just gives you a lot of confidence really.”

  • Tom Curry, Rory Hutchinson, Joe Cokanasiga, Alex Dombrandt, Ollie Thorley and Joe Simmonds have been shortlisted for the 2018/19 Land Rover Discovery of the Season award. Land Rover is the official vehicle partner of Premiership Rugby. Follow @LandRoverRugby