Injured Curry influencing Sale's winning form

Injured England flanker Tom Curry played an important role in turning around Sale Sharks' season to help them reach the Premiership semi-finals, says brother and Sale captain Ben.

Curry has not played since hip surgery following England's third-place finish at the World Cup in October, but has continued to play a key leadership role for Sale.

The Sharks produced their first league win at the StoneX Stadium against Saracens on Saturday to book their spot in the semi-finals and extend their winning run to five games after a difficult start to the season.

"Ever since the Six Nations - the last six or seven weeks - going into that break we were in a tough spot, either eighth or ninth and it wasn't a great place to be at the club," Curry told the BBC's Rugby Union Weekly.

"Tom [my brother] went out and had a really honest conversation on where we could improve.

"We were honest and said we have to win our final five and no one is going to come help us out. The lads really bought in.

"In that [leadership] group you also have Ross Harrison, Tommy Taylor and Robert du Preez. That could be a third of the starting XV driving that, it is then impossible for everyone not to follow that."

Sale's last defeat in the league came in March against Bath, who they will face at the Recreation Ground in the semi-finals on 1 June.

Their winning run has included victories over Leicester, Newcastle, Harlequins and Exeter.

"The stats will back Bath with 70-80% of the home teams winning semi-finals," the Sharks captain said.

"Six or seven weeks ago, no-one was expecting anything, and still no-one is expecting anything from us.

"We are happy with that and will focus on ourselves and see what happens."

Before the victory against Saracens, head coach Alex Sanderson said Tom Curry was "not far off" a return, but confirmed that game came just too soon for the England flanker.

Brother Ben missed the Premiership final defeat by Saracens last season through injury, but is confident his twin can join him for their semi-final against Bath.

"Hopefully we will see him soon which would be a big lift for the team especially this time of the year, that could be huge for us," he added.