George Furbank ‘in a good spot’ for England return as full-back outlines ‘positive’ Steve Borthwick conversations

George Furbank is hopeful of putting his injury woes in the rearview mirror, ahead of a crucial year for both club and country.

The full-back has endured a string of serious injuries in recent years, be it a broken arm, concussion and calf issues, which limited him to just 25 appearances in the last two seasons. It has also held him back at Test level, with his last appearance for England coming in their win over Japan back in November 2024.

“I’m hoping this is the season. It would be nice to put a run of games together and not have something go wrong!” he quipped.

‘It was all a bit hectic, to be honest, not an ideal situation’

The latest concern came just hours before England’s Nations Championship opener against the Springboks, with Furbank contracting appendicitis and withdrawing from the starting XV. As a result, he missed the rest of the July Tests, with Marcus Smith retaining the starting full-back spot.

“Friday morning I just woke up and I felt a bit rough,” he explained. “I went and did the team run at the stadium and started feeling worse; it was all in my abdomen. The doc had a press around and it was a bit tender over the appendix.

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“We thought we’d best be sure and get it scanned. I got the results back that evening and found out I had appendicitis. I had to stay in overnight and have it taken out in the morning. It was all a bit hectic, to be honest, not an ideal situation.

“It (the pain) wasn’t too bad because it hadn’t burst; it wasn’t agony,” he added. “What I told the boys was that it felt like I had really bad trapped wind. It felt like my stomach was cramping a bit so I was hoping I would just get to the hospital and then just fart and leave. It wasn’t agony but it was pretty uncomfortable. If (Eben) Etzebeth had hit me in the appendix that day and it had burst, I’d have been in all sorts of trouble!”

But, despite missing yet another campaign with England, Furbank is still in the frame for the northern leg of the Nations Championship in November, in which they face Australia, Japan and the All Blacks, and later down the track, the World Cup.

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“He’s (Steve Borthwick) been pretty positive with me,” detailed the full-back. “He felt like I was playing some of my better rugby again towards the back end of the season and I felt like I was in a pretty good spot. I was relishing the opportunity, I’ve never played against South Africa and to play at Ellis Park would have been pretty cool.

“It was gutting, but knowing that I was in a good spot to go and play for England again was a positive I took out of it.

“It was good,” he added of the three-day camp at Pennyhill Park. “Nice to catch up with a few of them this week and get back into stuff there. Obviously there’s no training week the week before the first game this year, so these few days that you get are pretty valuable for being in the best spot.”

‘I’m hoping it reinvigorates, keeps me excited, keeps me hungry to get better’

This is also a big year for him at club level, too, following a stunning move from boyhood club Northampton Saints to Harlequins in the off-season.

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The move not only sees Furbank leave behind a club he joined in 2016 and made 147 appearances for, but also sees him swap the champions for the team that finished ninth in the PREM table last year. However, he insists the change of setting is something he needed at this stage in his career.

“I’m hoping it reinvigorates, keeps me excited, keeps me hungry to get better,” he said. “I loved my time at Northampton; it was a pretty special way to bow out, but you can become comfortable at doing the same things week after week. A new environment and playing with different players is going to keep me motivated.”

“It’s a pretty young group who are hungry to get better, and I feel like I can bring a good bit of leadership and a good bit of experience in situations that some of these boys have not been in before. And I’m hoping I can bring the best out of this backline as well. I want to be at my best and bring some of the best out of others as well.

“My role is to be performing the best I can perform and bring those attributes to the squad. It’s easier to bring those attributes to an environment you’ve been in for a long time, like Northampton, because you get very comfortable in the system. It’s going to be a challenge, learning a new system here and it’s always a challenge bringing it to the international stage as well.”

As he has proved throughout his career, Furbank is one of the PREM and England’s best players when he’s on the field. Harlequins and England will certainly be hoping, as he is himself, that this is indeed the year he puts his injury issues in the rearview mirror.

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