Tom Curry will miss the entire Six Nations and most likely the rest of the season after Sale revealed he must undergo surgery to repair a hip injury.

Curry has been troubled by the issue since playing a full part in helping England finish third in the recent World Cup and a visit to a specialist confirmed that a clear out of the joint is the only option.

The 25-year-old flanker, an automatic pick for England when fit, will undergo the operation the week after next.

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson said: “Tom 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.”

Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson says he is “super proud” that his Gallagher Premiership finalists are flying the flag for rugby union in the north of England.

And Sanderson believes a sold-out AJ Bell Stadium that provided an inspired soundtrack to Sale’s pulsating play-off victory over Leicester must be viewed as just the start of their journey.

Sale play within 23 miles of five Super League clubs – Salford, Leigh, St Helens, Warrington and Wigan – while Old Trafford is just four miles down the road and Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium only a further five miles away.

It represents a congested sporting picture, but Sale have put themselves firmly on the map by reaching a first Premiership final for 17 years, with Saracens awaiting them at Twickenham on May 27.

“My job is to get them (players) to perform and play well at the weekend – that is my first priority – but there are many different hats to wear,” Sanderson said.

“And I am so proud of the fact that, potentially, our reach in the north is expanding.

“There are bigger crowds coming and the buzz is better. It’s busier, it’s a ‘Brucie bonus’. It is a humbling addition to the role in that you might be inspiring some kid to pick up a ball.

“I remember The North playing New Zealand when I was a kid. You know what I mean? Right now, we are flying the flag, and yes, I am super proud of that.

“I can’t talk too much about it because I start to cry and get too emotional.

“To come home, to this team – the team I played for and captained, that my brother played for, that my dad played against – it’s a bit of a dream.

“It feels like the start. I’m pumped, but I will think about the future in two weeks’ time. We have got a job to do before then.”

Sale fly-half George Ford, who played for Leicester when they defeated Saracens in the final a year ago, mirrors Sanderson’s view on building a northern stronghold.

Oldham-born Ford has won more than 80 England caps, playing on many of the sport’s biggest stages, and he is enthused by Sale’s future – on and off the pitch.

Ford said: “We speak about it all the time in that one of our reasons why is to make the people up here proud and interested in rugby union.

“To come out and support us, but more importantly for the kids to come out and pick up a rugby ball and start playing up here.

“It is obviously challenging with football and rugby league, but we are doing our utmost to have an effect on these young kids.

“Rugby union up here has got its challenges, as we all know. All we can do as a club is perform well, try to win games, fill the place out and try to entertain these people, give them a winning team that care and compete.

“We want to inspire the kids as well. The amount of kids you saw out there with smiles on their faces – ultimately, that’s what it is about.

“When we have finished and are long gone from the game, they are the people that will come in and take the game forward.

“If we can inspire kids to come and play up here – northern lads playing for Sale – that is what we want.”

Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson hailed George Ford as “a little pocket of calm amid the chaos” after his team reached a first Gallagher Premiership final for 17 years.

England international fly-half Ford was a dominant presence, guiding Sale home against his former club Leicester in an absorbing play-off clash at a sold-out AJ Bell Stadium.

Ford, who went off injured in last season’s Premiership final when Leicester beat Saracens – Sale’s opponents at Twickenham on May 27 – kicked three penalties and a conversion.

But he also epitomised Sale’s resilient attitude against a Tigers team that pushed them all the way before going down to a 21-13 defeat.

“They are a special group, these boys. They had to drink deep from the well today,” Sale rugby director Sanderson said.

“They stuck to the task, and George Ford drove that – a little pocket of calm amid the chaos.

“You need to be physically up to the task, you need a heart, you have really got to want it. What more can you ask for?

“I am proud of how they stuck at it and just got better at the basics as the game went on.”

Sale now face Saracens in pursuit of a Premiership crown that they last claimed when players like Jason Robinson, Charlie Hodgson and Sebastien Chabal ruled the roost.

And for Sanderson that means preparing a team to try and beat a club he spent several successful seasons with as an integral part of Mark McCall’s coaching staff.

Sale, though, look set to be without captain Ben Curry, who was carried off during the first half after suffering a hamstring injury.

Sanderson added: “He will get a scan tomorrow. He is on crutches and he got carried off. We will see tomorrow, but I doubt if he will make the final.

“I spent the major part of my life down there with those guys (at Saracens), but I am so engrained in this here that it feels like I have been here forever. It adds a little bit more spice.”

Wings Tom Roebuck and Arron Reed scored tries for Sale, but Leicester held a 13-10 lead with 24 minutes left before the Ford-inspired Sharks turned things their way.

A battling Leicester performance delivered a second-half try for wing Harry Potter, plus eight points from the boot of 39-year-old Jimmy Gopperth, who was a late replacement for World Cup-winning South African fly-half Handre Pollard.

Tigers’ interim head coach Richard Wigglesworth will join the England set-up of his former Leicester boss Steve Borthwick this summer, and a second successive Premiership final appearance proved just beyond the east Midlanders.

Wigglesworth said: “It was a close game, small margins. We just couldn’t find the advantage to tip it in our favour.

“We stuck in the contest, and we can’t fault the spirit and fight in the group.

“I am incredibly proud to have been asked to lead this group. I am so grateful for how they (Leicester) have treated me.”

And on Pollard’s absence, he added: “We only made that call this morning.

“Handre hadn’t trained for the last couple of training days. It was a calf issue, which is incredibly painful, but it can also clear up at a moment’s notice.”

Sale boss Alex Sanderson has admitted his interest in bringing England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie to the club amid reports his proposed move to Montpellier has fallen through.

The 29-year-old Exeter forward was due to join the Top 14 club this summer, but reports from France have suggested the deal has broken down on medical grounds with Cowan-Dickie working his way back from ankle surgery.

Montpellier have been linked with Tolu Latu, previously a target for the Sharks, and director of rugby Sanderson revealed during a press conference on Monday that he had heard the Australia international had agreed a deal for “twice the amount of money that we offered him.”

Asked if he would be interested in Cowan-Dickie, he said: “Yes, why wouldn’t you? He’s a great player.

“I don’t know if we would be in the right price point, but he’s got mates up here as well, he fits our kind of game model in that Ewan Ashman, Akker van de Merwe mould, doesn’t he? He’s a banger, so he ticks the box on a lot of fronts there.

“But I haven’t spoken to him, I haven’t spoken to Luke, so there’s nothing there in terms of that actually materialising.”

In the meantime, Sanderson will concentrate on the task of preparing his players for Sunday’s Gallagher Premiership semi-final clash with reigning champions Leicester Tigers and to that end, has enlisted the help of rugby league great Jamie Peacock.

Peacock won nine Super League Grand Finals, four Challenge Cup finals and four World Club Challenges during his glittering playing career, and Sanderson is hoping his “champion attitude” will rub off on his charges.

He said: “We’ve got JP coming in, who’ll have a little chat to us about what champion attitude looks like.

“He’s won nine Super Leagues and four World Challenges or whatever it is. He was a legend, so we’ll hopefully take a little leaf out of his book and add it to our own.”

Sale last won the Premiership final in 2006, and lost out in the semi-finals to Exeter two years ago.

This time around, they have proven winners George Ford, who was in the Tigers side which lifted the trophy last season, and Manu Tuilagi among their ranks, and Sanderson is convinced their winning mentality is key.

Asked how important it could be, he said: “It’s crucial, isn’t it, because these are leaders who come to the fore at this time of the season.

“There are guys that have to step up on the field and are able to keep their heads and respond and find ways when the plan doesn’t work – which it invariably doesn’t against the better teams – find ways of navigating to good outcomes, to better outcomes.

“Being able to draw on their experience is crucial, like I did this morning and I will tomorrow as we go through the week. I’ll continue to lean on them, not that it’s a chore for them, they want to.”