Tom Curry has been tearing into his team-mates on the training field in preparation for his comeback when England complete their World Cup group campaign against Samoa on Saturday.

Curry has played just 179 seconds of the tournament after being sent off for a dangerous tackle in the opener against Argentina, resulting in a two-match ban that ruled him out against Japan and Chile.

It was a frustrating first appearance under Steve Borthwick having missed the Six Nations and last month’s warm-up fixtures because of hamstring and ankle injuries.

Now the high-energy Sale flanker is poised to start England’s final Pool D assignment in Lille with a quarter-final against likely opponents Fiji looming on the horizon.

Attack coach Richard Wigglesworth revealed that Curry was straining at the leash to get his World Cup underway having made his presence felt in practise.

“Tom’s been a menace in training because he’s so good, which means he’s everywhere!” Wigglesworth said.

“He’s incredibly committed and diligent. As you’d expect from the really, really top player that he is, he shows all those traits.

“He’s chomping at the bit and we’re delighted for him that he’s back and raring to go. He won’t hold much back – he’s all action.

“He’s fit as a fiddle and that’s the way he plays – multiple actions in games where he affects the game on both sides of the ball.

“I think we will get the best of Tom Curry in terms of him getting straight into it from the start.

“We’re absolutely delighted to get him back. It was tough for him to come back from that (red card) but he has reacted really well and got stuck into his training.”

Owen Farrell insists the ultra-fit Curry, a world player of the year nominee in 2019, is ready to make his mark on the World Cup.

“Tom’s in a good place. I don’t think there is too much revving up that Tom can do – he is pretty much 100 per cent every time you are out there training,” England’s captain said.

“I’m sure he has got a bit of frustration at not being involved and I’m sure he can’t wait to show what he can do and get out there with the team.”

England secured their quarter-final spot when Japan toppled Argentina on Thursday and progress as pool winners with a match to spare, taking full advantage of being positioned in the easier half of the draw.

When they arrived in France, expectation outside the squad was at an all-time time low amid fears they would fail to emerge from the group, having lost five out of their previous six Tests.

But they have brushed aside Argentina, Japan and Chile and confidence is growing that they can advance deeper into the World Cup.

“So far the team has done well. It is not a massive pat on the back to ourselves because we have still hopefully got a long way to go in this competition. All we are trying to do is focus on what we are doing now,” Farrell said.

“With regards to people writing us off on the outside, that has not been the case in the camp.

“We believe in what we are doing and we have done even when things weren’t going quite as we would have wanted them to.”

Tom Curry has been pushing himself through a punishing training regime to ensure he is ready to face Samoa in England’s final World Cup group match.

Curry has played less than three minutes of the tournament in France after being sent off in the opener for a dangerous tackle against Argentina, resulting in a two-match suspension.

It continued his challenging start to the Steve Borthwick era, having missed the entire Six Nations and build-up campaign to the World Cup because of injury.

Now poised to make his comeback against Samoa on October 7, the squad’s most influential player in defence has been defying the instructions of England’s fitness guru Aled Walters to perfect his conditioning.

“Tom is a unique player in that I don’t think I’ve ever come across anyone so fit, or so willing to work hard and put himself through pain,” scrum coach Tom Harrison said.

“He just seems to be able to enjoy it and keep going. There was a conditioning session the other day where he finished his reps and Aled Walters was shouting at him, ‘Get out, get out’. And he just carried on running.

“He just stayed in and carried on running. And when he did finally decide it was time for time for him to get out, he left the drill and Ellis Genge started hammering him for leaving the drill! And you just saw him getting so angry about it!

“He is in phenomenal shape. He has been brilliant. Unfortunately he was suspended, but he was brilliant by not going, ‘Oh I’m suspended for these two games’. Instead he went, ‘How can I help England win?’.

“And the work he was doing to help make training hard and difficult for the guys playing, and also the work he was doing with the back rows, to add his experience and his knowledge to our team meetings has been exceptional.”

Maro Itoje insists England will do whatever it takes to win if a substance over style approach emerges as their blueprint for success at the World Cup.

George Ford kicked all 27 points in their rout of Argentina last Saturday as England responded to the third-minute dismissal of Tom Curry for a dangerous tackle by grinding the Pumas into submission.

It was a rousing riposte to a dismal warm-up campaign but having excelled in defence and shown the smarts to shape their gameplan according to events, a potent attack remains elusive.

Free running Japan are the next assignment at the Stade de Nice on Sunday and while Itoje would prefer to see England run riot, he will take a victory any way it comes.

When asked if it matters how the team win, Itoje said: “For me, it’s by any means necessary.

“Obviously, we like to score tries and we’d like to score loads of tries. But for me it’s by any means necessary as long as we get the win.

“Every game’s different and is going to present different challenges. The task is to find ways to get on the positive side of the result.

“We know Japan move the ball. We know they are a very clever team that comes up with clever plays. However, the goal and task is to enforce an English style of rugby on this game.

“We want to show our best hand and we want to defend it well. We want to impose our physicality.

“We want to get into our set piece game and when the opportunity is right our generals will fire us in attack. Yes Japan move the ball, but it is about us imposing our will on them.

“Japan run the ball more than Argentina and are very aggressive with how they play and the spirit and the energy of how they play.”

Japan are not the force that lit up the 2019 World Cup with the pandemic hitting them harder than any other international side as they were prevented from playing a Test for two years.

If, as expected, England dispatch a team who have fallen to 14th in the global rankings they will have clear sight of a place in the quarter-finals with group games against Chile and Samoa left to play.

But Jamie George accepts that if they are to progress further in the competition, they must develop more strings to their bow.

“If we’re going to win a World Cup, which is what we’re here to do, we know that we’re going to have to kick on from where we were,” George said.

“The great English teams that I watched growing up and that I have been a part of based their teams around great defence and great set piece.

“As long as we are doing that I think our attacking game flows off the back of that. We have got players who can do special things.

“You have just seen the start of us in this tournament. We hope you will see us score points in different ways.”

England head coach Steve Borthwick has highlighted World Rugby’s inconsistent approach to disciplinary issues.

Tom Curry was sent off in the third minute of Saturday’s World Cup victory over Argentina for a dangerous tackle and received a two-match ban, yet similar incidents involving South Africa’s Jesse Kriel and Martin Sigren of Chile failed to produce a dismissal, citing or suspension.

It has raised concerns over the officiating of illegal challenges involving the head.

Borthwick also highlighted that when Owen Farrell was sent off for a dangerous tackle against Wales and then cleared by a disciplinary hearing, World Rugby intervened by appealing against the decision.

“There has been a large amount of commentary from different sources about what appears to be a lack of consistency and transparency in the decision making process,” Borthwick said.

“Now it’s not my role to comment on that, it’s World Rugby’s. I also note there was a tremendous amount of comment from World Rugby on Owen Farrell for a couple of weeks during our preparation for this tournament.

“It was a situation that went on and on with lots of comment from World Rugby. I note there hasn’t been very many comments from World Rugby – I’m told – in the last week or so. I will leave that to World Rugby.”

Elliot Daly insists it is time for England to show their teeth in attack as they look to build on the defensive masterclass delivered against Argentina.

Steve Borthwick’s team top Pool D of the World Cup after routing the Pumas 27-10, securing a vital victory even though flanker Tom Curry was sent off for a dangerous tackle in the third minute.

A steely performance addressed concerns about the vulnerability of their defence but with all the points arriving off the boot of George Ford, the deficiencies of an attack that has yet to fire since Borthwick took charge were exposed once more.

Moments of promise in Marseille – most notably a five on two overlap – failed to materialise into tries and Daly is targeting an improvement when the group campaign continues against Japan on Sunday.

“We know how good our attack can be, so hopefully in the next few games we’ll be able to show that,” the Saracens wing said.

“A lot of people wrote us off against Argentina so for us to come out and perform like that and get that scoreline was pretty impressive.

“If we can do the same this weekend, perform how we want to perform and put our game on Japan, let’s see where that takes us.

“We’re not saying we’re going to chuck the ball around, but we’re going to put ourselves in positions in attack to take the opportunities we create.

“We did actually see the space on the weekend, but we probably couldn’t go into it when down to 14. We’re seeing the space a lot more, which is going to create more opportunities with the ball.

“There’s a lot more to come from us and I’m very excited about how we’re approaching it.”

For England to thrive against Japan they must shed their habit of seeing players sent off for illegal challenges having amassed four red cards in six Tests.

Curry’s dismissal against Argentina lifts the total number of cards for their 10 matches this year to nine, the highest of any side ranked in the top 10.

While Daly takes comfort from knowing England have played some of their best rugby when their backs are against the wall, he insists they must be aware of the current climate in the game which sees dangerous play being clamped down on.

“We just need probably to make sure we’re whiter than white, but these things happen, so it’s about we react on the field to that,” he said.

“Obviously we don’t want that in big games, but if we do have it, it’s something we’ve got to shrug off and understand what we’re lacking in that position.

“We understand that we want to keep 15 people on the field but if we don’t it’s how we react to that really.

“We’ve got to understand that if you do go high and it’s 50-50 there’s a chance of a penalty or even worse.”

Borthwick names his starting XV on Friday evening with prop Kyle Sinckler and number eight Billy Vunipola expected to be recalled to the 23 following absences through injury and suspension respectively.

Kevin Sinfield insists England do not have a discipline problem as they look to draw a line under their latest red-card setback that resulted in a two-match ban for Tom Curry.

England did not contest Curry’s dismissal for a dangerous tackle in Saturday’s 14-man demolition of Argentina when the Sale openside appeared before a brief virtual hearing on Tuesday.

After the disruption caused to their World Cup preparations by the Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola incidents last month, England are keen to focus all their attention on Sunday’s Pool D showdown with Japan.

And while continuing to hone their tackle technique in training, defence coach Sinfield is satisfied there is no deep-rooted problem.

“Discipline-wise, we gave away seven penalties at the weekend,” Sinfield said.

“I don’t think we’ve got a discipline problem, I thought it was really unfortunate what happened at the weekend. It’s been different from the other challenges that have taken place.

“We continue to work on our tackle skill – and work incredibly hard. The guys have bought into it and have done so for some time, but they’re human and they make mistakes. We’ve got to understand that.

“And unfortunately we’ve had to deal with four red cards in six games. We’re getting pretty good at defending with 14 men, but we want to have our full complement on the field for as long as possible at all times.

“So we hope to improve that area, but it’s tricky to pinpoint exactly what that is.

“We’ll spend time with Tom and put him through tackle school and work incredibly hard with him again. We’ll get him right for a couple of weeks’ time.”

Observers have been left scratching their heads by the inconsistent refereeing evident during the opening round of World Cup matches.

While Curry was given his marching orders for his third-minute clash of heads with Juan Cruz Mallia, similar incidents involving players from South Africa and Chile went unpunished.

On this occasion England could be justified for nursing a sense of grievance at the way the cards have fallen against them and Sinfield admits the disparity between decisions makes a player’s job harder.

“I think it makes life really difficult for the players, first and foremost, and that’s what we’re all here for,” Sinfield said.

“We all want to see the players out on the field, we want to see the best players in the world go head to head. We’ve just got to be careful.

“We control what we can control. We’re in full support of the rules and regulations. We try and train as hard as we can, but within the laws of the game and we’ll continued to do that.”

England name their team to face Japan on Friday night and Sinfield insists there will be no room for sentimentality when making any tight calls.

“At the top of the list is to win the game to we pick the team that we think gives us the best chance of winning,” Sinfield said.

“Within that there’s always a balance, but we’re in a World Cup and we’re not here to give people game-time, we’re here to win games.

“We’re not here to give Test shirts out because someone deserves one, we’re here because we have to win games.”

Tom Curry will be available for England’s final World Cup group game after receiving a two-match ban for his dangerous tackle against Argentina on Saturday.

Curry was shown a red card that was upgraded from yellow upon review following a clash of heads with Pumas full-back Juan Cruz Mallia in the third minute at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome.

A virtual disciplinary panel gave Curry a three-game suspension that will be reduced to two if he completes World Rugby’s ‘Coaching Intervention Programme’, otherwise known as tackle school.

https://x.com/EnglandRugby/status/1701621167746957521?s=20

It means the Sale openside will be available to face Samoa in Lille on October 7 in England’s final Pool D assignment.

England flanker Tom Curry will learn the length of his suspension for his red card in Saturday’s World Cup win over Argentina on Tuesday.

Curry was sent off in the third minute after a dangerous challenge on Juan Cruz Mallia that resulted in his yellow card being upgraded to red by the bunker review system.

England overcame their adversity to produce an impressive 27-10 victory, with George Ford kicking all 27 points, and next face Japan in Nice on Sunday, but will be without Curry, who will attend a disciplinary hearing in Paris on Tuesday evening.

A statement from World Rugby said: “England’s Tom Curry will appear before an independent Judicial Committee in Paris having received a red card, following a review by the Foul Play Review Officer, in England’s Rugby World Cup 2023 Pool D match against Argentina in Marseille on Saturday, 9 September for an offence contrary to Law 9.13 (dangerous tackle).

“At the player’s request, the hearing will take place on Tuesday evening, 12 September.

“The independent Judicial Committee that will hear the matter will be chaired by Adam Casselden SC (Australia), joined by former players John Langford (Australia) and Jamie Corsi (Wales).”