Ahead of this summer’s British & Irish Lions Tour to New Zealand, the England rugby side travelled to Argentina for a two-test series involving a number of players not included in Warren Gatland’s squad. Ben & Tom Curry, a pair of identical twin teenagers hoping to cement their place in Eddie Jones’ long-term plans, were among the seventeen forwards chosen for the trip to South America. Rugby World magazine commissioned me to shoot some portraits of the two flankers currently plying their trade with Sale Sharks.
Armed with a couple of Canon EOS 1DX cameras, a 24mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.2 lens, and a set of PixaPro Citi600 lights, I met up with Sarah Mockford, the magazine’s Deputy Editor, at Sale’s Carrington training ground on the outskirts of Manchester, where we spent an enjoyable hour or so in the company of two of rugby union’s brightest young prospects.
“Right…,” I said, pointing a finger towards ‘the one on the left’, in the vain hope that he’d finish my sentence for me and reveal who was who. No such luck…they’ve seen it all before…it was down to me to figure it out for myself.
“OK, ‘Curry’ it is, then!”
Though I was born and brought up in sleepy Suffolk, Cheshire’s been my home for almost a decade now, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that not only had both lads been through Crewe & Nantwich RFC, located at the Vagrants club just a stone’s throw from my house, but they were also familiar with the village of Willaston, and were both past entrants in the globally-renowned World Worm Charming Championships, an annual event held at the primary school in the village. The competitiveness I sensed between the two echoed that of my own childhood, and no doubt of countless other young siblings too…it was nice to hear that worm charming remained a fond memory of two lads who are on the cusp of international stardom on a slightly larger scale…
The article was printed in the July 2017 issue of Rugby World and the images are available for licence exclusively through Offside Sports Photography.
Simon Stacpoole | Photographer 