Tom Curry scored an own goal during a trial with Man City – now he is compared to Richie McCaw and captains England in vital Six Nations clash with Scotland

Tom Curry will be the youngest man to captain England in a Test match since Will Carling in 1988 when he faces the biblical weather conditions at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Eddie Jones’ men get their Six Nations campaign off to a difficult start away to Scotland, hoping to claim revenge for defeat at Twickenham last year.

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England had a strong Autumn Nations campaign, but are now bereft by injuries and COVID issues so Jones has named a far more inexperienced side than he would have wanted.

Although attacking and in line with his ‘New England’ principles, Jones’ starting XV does not include either Owen Farrell or Courtney Lawes so Curry has stepped up to the plate.

The 23-year-old has developed at a rapid rate since his debut for England in Argentina as a teenager back in 2017 and has amassed 39 caps in the process.

Although his twin brother Ben is not yet enjoying quite the same success as his sibling, Tom is well aware of his sporting prowess after he got him a trial at Manchester City.

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“I do owe Ben one, though, because I'm the main reason we didn't become professional footballers,” he told the . “One day, scouts from Manchester City came to watch our school team play. I was running on the stairs, tripped over and split my shin open, so ended up getting rushed to hospital and couldn't play.

“Luckily the scouts were impressed with Ben at centre-back and when they found out he had an identical twin they were like: 'Great, bring them both along.'

“A few months down the line, we were playing for City against this Dutch team. I tried to head the ball back to the goalkeeper but instead placed a beautiful header straight past him into the goal.

“And that was that. That was our football career over. So, long story short, Ben got us in and I got us out!”

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Providing the Sale Sharks forward can maintain his form and fitness, there is no reason to suggest he cannot reach or even eclipse the likes of Ben Youngs or Jason Leonard in the all-time appearance list.

Curry will have to continue to deal with mounting expectations as his consistency and performance levels reach new peaks, like being compared to two-time World Cup winning captain Richie McCaw.

The All Blacks legend earned a world record 148 caps, winning 131 of those and captaining the side 11 times and Jones believes Curry has the necessary leadership traits to emulate the legend.

Jones said: “Captaincy is not about the number of caps, it's about the person who can lead a group of players by example. There is no better player in our squad than Tom to do that.

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“He reminds me of a young Richie McCaw. It's all about getting the team on the front foot. That goes in line with how we want to play the game.

“We want to go up there and take Scotland on. It's the first time I'm going up there as underdogs and where Scotland are red-hot favourites. They're expected to win.

“Every time the players will look at the crowd, they will feel that expectation.

“They've got to cope with that. There will be 62,000 fans and they'll be thinking about all the fans watching on TV. They've got to carry that burden. Every game is the same for us.”