Tom Curry: Sale & England flanker’s running, jumping, quizzing & piano-playing in lockdown

Tom Curry's England team-mate George Kruis also stars in The Nightingales' Song

If this rugby season had panned like it might have done, Sale and England flanker Tom Curry should by now have been a World Cup and Six Nations winner looking to end it with a bit more glory at club level too.

Instead, he is in lockdown, as unclear as the rest of us how things will pan out both for England and a Sale side second in the Premiership table and through to the final of the Premiership Rugby Cup.

Curry had been putting safety first and amusing himself as best as he can, whether it's running, jumping, squatting, lunging, quizzing or simply learning to play the piano.

But one off-field off Covid-19 offshoot, the 23-times capped, 21-year-old Curry has happily got involved in his support of an NHS fundraising project to back a new sport-themed children's e-book.

When the Nightingales sang. . .

'The Nightingales' Song', written by Berkshire teacher Phil Clegg, tells the story of a fictional, unfancied side who, in a bid to improve their outside chances of winning the Champions Cup, enlist the help of sport stars including Liverpool and England captain Jordan Henderson, England Test cricket captain Joe Root and England rugby stars Curry, Anthony Watson and George Kruis as sporting mentors.

And Curry told BBC Hereford & Worcester that this was a speculative pass from an England team-mate which he simply could not afford to drop.

"It came through George Kruis," said Curry. "He got in touch and laid out what it was all about. It was an opportunity to raise money for a book, with all proceeds going to the NHS.

"As soon as he said NHS, I just kept saying 'yes' in all the right places. Image rights, that sort of thing.

"Certainly no drawing or writing," he added with a grin. "I'm just helping to promote it and get it out there."

Liverpool and England captain Jordan Henderson also features in the e-book

As a hard-tackling forward who admits he actually grew up idolising backs like Jason Robinson, Jonny Wilkinson and Charlie Hodgson, Curry is flattered at the idea at being one of the heroes of the next generation.

"As a kid, if any book was released with sports people in it, I'd have been straight onto it," he said. "So for me to be involved with something like this from the other perspective is a bit weird."

'Does it float or does it sink?'

All Curry hopes for the book is that it proves as popular as some of his other lockdown leisure activities over the past two months - whether that means doing his daily training, tickling the ivories on his piano or quizzing with friends and family.

"Netflix was completed a long time ago," he said. "But, what with the lads from the rugby club, university mates and my family, I'm pretty quizzed out at the minute.

"It's usually either the winners or the losers who do the quiz each week.

"One recommended round this week was 'Does it float or does it sink?' with household objects.

"And I'm also trying to learn the piano. I started by looking on YouTube. I'm not going to be playing anything to anyone any time soon but it's going along nicely."

'God knows when we'll be back'

Curry has also been busy trying to keep up his fitness levels, to be ready for whenever he and twin brother Ben might get called on again by their club.

"It's far from ideal," said Curry, who was on the brink of winning a Six Nations for the first time against Italy in Rome when the competition was halted. "We've been away from the club for nine weeks now. But you have to search for some hidden benefits.

"Keeping competitive with my brother is a massive driver. But there's lots to work on. You've got the chance to target the weaknesses that you can't work on in a normal match week, and just do running drills, to help get bigger and stronger.

"And, not just for athletes, but everyone in general, mental health is very important right now."

And does he have any real idea when he might return for Sale, chasing their league and cup double, and England, just one win away from that Six Nations crown?

"I'm no health expert," he said. "But whatever happens, as long as it's done safely, with everyone's health in mind.

"In terms of Six Nations we don't really have a clue. All the unions are talking about it and I imagine that it will be concluded. It is only one round of matches.

"But, in terms of the Premiership, God knows when we'll be back. I just we can keep our momentum into next season."

'The Nightingales' Song' was released on Tuesday. It features footballers Jordan Henderson, Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshire, cricketers Joe Root, Mark Wood and Danni Wyatt and rugby union players Tom Curry, George Kruis and Anthony Watson - all of whom have been operated on by Professor James Calder, lead clinician at the Nightingale NHS Hospital in London, who is an orthopaedic surgeon with a reputation for treating foot and ankle injuries in top international athletes. He is friends with the author, Phil Clegg, head of sixth form at Bradfield College, who came up with the idea. The illustrator is Laura Hutchinson.

Tom Curry was talking to BBC Hereford & Worcester's Andrew Easton.