England's Curry ruled out for rest of Australia tour with concussion

By Sports Desk July 04, 2022

Tom Curry will play no further part in England's tour of Australia after he was ruled out for the remaining two games through concussion.

The Sale Sharks flanker started for Eddie Jones' side in Saturday's first Test in Perth, but was replaced by Lewis Ludlam at the half-time break as the Wallabies snapped their losing streak in a dramatic 30-28 fightback win.

Curry had travelled to Brisbane for the tourists' next match, but will now fly back to England later this week in what is a sizeable blow.

The 24-year-old - a member of the British and Irish Lions party that toured South Africa last year - is considered a frontrunner for Jones' squad at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

"It has been agreed that in the interest of player welfare and recovery, [Curry] will take no further part in the tour," the Rugby Football Union confirmed in a brief statement.

It is not yet known whether England will call up a replacement for Curry, who is the first noticeable injury the tourists have had to deal with.

The Sharks star - a Premiership Cup winner with the club in 2020, a year on from playing in England's World Cup final defeat to the Springboks in Japan - will continue further assessment upon his return to England.

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    Travis Head's superb knock of 59 from just 23 balls, which included plundering 30 from a single over, set Australia on their way.

    England fought back with the ball, though, and were ultimately set a target of 180.

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    "Everything was good apart from the result," said Salt, who was standing in for the absent Jos Buttler.

    "They played well. Heady came out swinging in the powerplay and gave them a head start.

    "We were a couple of wickets too far down. Heady's done that for a couple of years, it's about how do we shut that down?

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    Australia have won back-to-back T20Is against England for the first time since February 2018, as the hosts failed to win a third straight T20I at The Rose Bowl.

    "It was a nice start. Nice to get under way," said Head.

    "To set a platform like that with the hitters we had behind us, it was nice to do the job."

    Australia captain Mitchell Marsh added: "We certainly looked on course for 200 but did our best to stuff it up, so it's nice to start the series with a win."

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    England had salvaged some pride during Australia's late collapse, only to fumble their chance with the bat as they failed to reach their target of 180.

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    Data Debrief: Unhappy homecoming

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  • Southgate in no hurry to return to football after England departure Southgate in no hurry to return to football after England departure

    Gareth Southgate says he is keeping an open mind about what comes next in his career but is in no hurry to rush back into football.

    Southgate stepped down as England manager in July, shortly after England's second consecutive European Championship final defeat.

    The 54-year-old was in charge of the Three Lions for eight years, leading the team through four major tournaments, while only Walter Winterbottom (139) and Alf Ramsey (113) managed more games for the national team than Southgate (102).

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    Southgate led England to their first major tournament final since 1966 at Euro 2020 and helped the team reach their first final on foreign soil in Germany over the summer.

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    "I think it was probably the right time for change," he added.

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    "We raised expectations and that was important. We needed to put English football back on the map."

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