Every rugby club has its own idiosyncrasies that beginners have to deal with. For Sale’s new signings, one of the most challenging involves learning to tell the Curry twins apart.
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Summer arrivals Nicky Smith and Tomas Francis took over this. At the Carrington club training ground, the two of them Wales props compare notes on how they’re going.
“I’ve been doing well until today, but Tom cut his hair and now he looks more like Ben which threw me off,” admits Francis.
“I was exactly the same,” agrees Smith. “I messed up today. I sat next to Ben, but I thought it was Tom. ‘How was the extra fitness today?’ I asked him. ‘Mate, that’s my brother,’ he replied. I apologized. To be fair to him, he laughed.”
The back row game of ‘guess who’ is a new introduction to life in the North for the pair who were reunited after Smith made the sudden decision to leave Leicester while Francis broke the spell in France Pro D2 with Provence.
They had different drivers. Smith, 32, was lured by the offer of a three-year contract, while Francis, 34, managed to move his family closer to his native Yorkshire at what he sees as his last club.
The shared vision was for both to see Sale, apart from possibly being Prem’s play-off contenders this season, after their superb year in 2025/26, as offering a good runway for next year’s World Cup with Wales.
It was a surprise for both of them when they found out, after two seasons at the club Ospreys between 2021 and 2023 they were to become club mates again.
Nicky and Dickie – it’s a bit of a pain – we really need to change one of their names – but the chance to play with them again appeals to me.
“I signed, and then when it came out, he texted me, ‘I signed,'” Smith explains. “I was like, ‘Shut up, you just screwed me over.'”
Francis chimes in: “I’m told they’ve signed a Welsh international. I was hoping it was (Rhys) Carre!”
With the British and the Irish Lions whore Luke Cowan-Dickie, another old Exeter team-mate of Francis, between them, it will be a formidable front row.
“Nicky and Dickie – it’s a bit of a pain – we really have to change one of their names – but the chance to play with them again appeals to me,” says Francis.
“At the last stage of your career, you want to play with your peers and class players, so that’s good.”
Injuries exposed the lack of front-line depth last season for the Sale but that shouldn’t be a problem this season. Not when they have two more full England international props in Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Bevan Rodd plus one England A hooker at Nathan Jibul in the building.
“We sat in a front row meeting the other day, and you look back and see the quality there,” says Smith.
“We’ve probably got two or three boys in every position that you’d be more than happy to start. I think that’s the really exciting thing about this club – that strength in depth, especially in the front row, is very impressive.”
“The rotation aspect is key,” adds Francis. “You’re not going to be asked to go 80 every week. There’s so much talent in the stable to manage you.
“Pro D2 is a bit different to the Premiership and I’ll probably have to get back up to speed. But I’ll have time to get used to it and be well looked after, which will bring out the best in me for Sale and Wales.”
I always left it open with Wales that I would be available if they needed me. I talked to Steve Tandy about what he was building and found that I still have that itch.
Francis, who qualifies for Wales through his grandmother, returned to international action last season Six Nations after a three-year absence, he won his 82nd appearance in the tournament.
“I thought I was done with it. Family time was important when I left. I had a nine-month-old and a 23-month-old when I left for France and I got to spend almost every day with them without the international camp,” says Francis.
“But I always left it open to Wales that I would be available if they needed me and I spoke to Steve Tandy about what he had done and I found I still had that itch.
“I had a good three-year recovery period, got my neck fixed and it was exciting to come back and try again.
“My dream is to win a fourth World Cup but there are a lot of stepping stones to get to that point and nothing is given in rugby.”
Smith, who has 67 caps, is targeting a third World Cup but wants Wales to reach the Australia where they are grouped with England, Tonga and Zimbabwe in much better shape than they are at the moment.
“The prospect of the World Cup is really exciting. We have a great chance to get out of the group and then the knockout games are one-off, but we have to be better than we were,” he says.
“I felt the last part of the Six Nations was very positive. We were unlucky to lose Scotland and against Ireland in 65 minutes, we gave them everything. That was very good of us, but the summer was disappointing. To win Fiji was great, but I felt that the performance was not there in the other two games.
We need to start the autumn firings. In terms of performance, we have to have higher expectations than we had during the summer.
“We’re not good enough to have bad days. We have to be in it every game. The best teams that can get away with it, but we’re not there yet.
“We have to start with the fall firings. In terms of performance, we have to have higher expectations than we had during the summer.”
“It’s just about that progression, that journey of making sure that when we’re in those stages of the World Cup, we’re absolutely fired up and full of confidence and know we can do our best.”
Before that, there is a lot of work to be done on the sales recovery project. Almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong last season as the play-off club limped home in seventh place in Prem.
This time the building blocks seem promising.
Joe Marchant is back on English soil Fijian Drua Ponipate flyer Loganimasi will also add flair, but it’s the personnel that Sale has added upfront that should make the difference.
The club’s reputation for uncompromising forward fighting is unlikely to be diminished by the arrival of Courtney Lawes. Christ Tshiunza and Elia Canakaivaka, another Drew recruit, will also get a shot.
What with Smith and Francis on board at the sharp end, it looks like Sharks will well and truly get their bite back this season.
