England flanker Tom Curry says he still cannot set a date for his return to rugby after undergoing a major hip operation that is expected to rule him out until next season at the earliest.
The 25-year-old back-row has been out of action since appearing in the bronze medal win over Argentina at last year's World Cup in France, his 50th England cap.
Upon returning to England, the Sale loose forward needed a lengthy operation to address an arthritic injury, with Curry rejecting the option of having a metal hip inserted – the same procedure undertaken by British tennis great Andy Murray.
Curry compared the extent of his damage to "a car crash" but, following surgery, he has now started a rehabilitation programme.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮...
— Sale Sharks 🦈 (@SaleSharksRugby) February 13, 2024
"I'm taking it day by day, every week it just gets better."
Hear from Tom Curry as he updated us on his recovery journey so far 👇 pic.twitter.com/CRDqbILGN9
"In terms of coming back to play, I still don't really know. It's day by day," Curry told Sale Sharks TV.
He added: "The tough thing is thinking too far ahead and that's why I need to take each day as it comes.
"Every day I'll give it 100 per cent and be really grateful that I can do this and then we'll see.
"If you take a step and your hip feels bad, your mood goes down. If you do that and your hip feels good, your mood goes up. So it is about trying to get rid of all that stuff and keeping it as simple as possible."
England, meanwhile are expected to add Manu Tuilagi, Ollie Lawrence, George Martin and Luke Cowan-Dickie to their squad as they continue their preparations for a Six Nations match away to oldest rivals Scotland.
The quartet have all been unavailable for England's wins over Italy and Wales in the opening two rounds of the tournament, but could now come into contention for the Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield when the Championship resumes on 24 February after a rest week.