"Gets you on that same page" George Furbank: England star on Marcus Smith's fullback return and defence under Joe El-Abd
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England are currently in the midst of a mini training camp, after head coach Steve Borthwick named his wider training group to prepare for the upcoming Autumn Series. England are set to travel out to Girona, Spain in just under a fortnight’s time, with George Furbank amongst those players hoping to take a lead role for the upcoming Test against the All Blacks.
Furbank finds himself back at the Allianz and training alongside his soon to be opponents, as he the fullback will be donning the green, black and gold of Northampton once more this weekend. The Saints are set for an explosive East Midlands derby against Leicester Tigers, as the Gallagher Premiership enters its regionalised rivalry round.
Whilst Furbank runs the phases with Tigers backs Freddie Steward and Jack van Poortvliet, it was Leicester lock George Martin that has been stirring up his East Midlands rivals in the England camp.
“George Martin keep saying he's going to food poison us. It feels a little bit weird, not being at Saints during the derby week. Normally you get a proper build up to it. We'll probably have a very brief training session on Friday back at saints but come gameday we'll be in the right mindset.
“There's cameras on everything now but there's definitely still that rivalry there. It's a game that you circle in the calendar. If you can get a win away on derby day, it's a huge thing for the club.”
Furbank’s most recent outing for his club saw him go one on one with Marcus Smith, as the flying Harlequin took up the 15 jersey in an unexpected change. With Leigh Halfpenny out of action, Harlequins head coach moved Smith to the back-three, and the regular fly half had a stunning outing, as he contributed two tries at Franklin’s Gardens.
“He (Marcus Smith) did a pretty good job, of trying to do that on the weekend. He put on a bit of show in the first half. He can slide in anywhere and tear up.” Furbank said.
“I think being able to play that 10 or 15, role. It just just helps develop your game and probably get you on the same page a little bit more. The more you play together, the more you understand each other. The fact that he can then see it from a 15’s perspective, and I can see it from a 10’s perspective, it gets you on that same page, which is exactly what you want to be.”
There has been plenty of alterations in the England camp, with the coaching staff getting a shake-up following the Summer Tour of Japan and New Zealand. After head of strength and conditioning Aled Walters swapped England for a spot in the Ireland set-up, defence coach Felix Jones also stepped down from Borthwick’s backroom staff.
Borthwick has since appointed former Gloucester coach Dan Tobin to Walter’s vacancy, before Oyonnax Director of Rugby Joe El-Abd got the call to be England’s new defence coach. Despite the changes to England’s defensive set-up, George Furbank insists that the dominant ‘blitz’ style of defending will continue. The Saints man has previously expressed how he enjoys the high pressing style of defence, and does not expect El-Abd to ‘rip up the play book’ after arriving from France.
“I spoke to both Felix and Aled. Steve had a chat with us and explained things. It was a bit of a shock to see them go, it's not something we were expecting, but obviously now Steve's bought in the coaches he wants to bring in. In Joe, he's got a very good replacement someone he knows very well.”
“Steve explained the reasons for them leaving and most of that meeting was about looking forward. Speaking about who he was looking to bring in and what was going to change in the squad, which is ultimately very little to be honest. No coach is coming in to rip up the playbook. A lot of that meeting was about looking forward and not letting it affect the squad.”
Whilst Furbank does not utilise the high pressing line-speed with the Saints, he has been enjoying the system within the national set-up. Within the Premiership, Furbank expressed how it only really Exeter Chiefs and Sale Sharks that use the high-flying blitz, with Furbank dropping back into the back-field as he runs out in green, black and gold.
The 27-year-old discussed how chopping and changing the two defensive systems does take some getting used to, but having such a strong Saints contingent certainly helps. With the likes of Fin Smith, Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman joining him in the backs (whilst Alex Mitchell remains on the injury sidelines), Furbank is finding the defensive change that little bit easier, as he gets set for a quick turnaround into this weekend’s East Midland’s derby.
“I don't think Joe's going to come in and change things massively. He's going to look to put his mark on it but ultimately it's about improving where we are at the moment with our D. We came on leaps and bounds with that aggressive blitz defence so we're just going to look at keep improving that.
“There's a bit more coverage, you're probably making a few more frontline tackles. It's mainly positional stuff; you can't be afraid of letting them stick the ball in behind you, you've got to be happy to come up into the line and make those first time tackles. They're high speed collisions so you've got to be red hot on where you're hitting bodies.
“I'd never played in a blitz D before so when it was first introduced it felt a little bit weird. It takes a couple of sessions to get into it. You're probably worrying too much about backfield space. As a full back you don't really want the ball kicked in behind you but ultimately you rely on the lads inside you to put enough pressure on the kicker so he can't get the kick away.
“It was probably the positions side of things that I struggled with to start with and the fear of that kick space in behind. You can almost read that, read the kickers body language, and that gives you a little bit of time to adjust.
“Him knowing Steve for a long time I think is going to help. I've never been coached by him before but I'm excited for him to put his mark on it and for us to buy into that. I don't think he's going to add too much, just add his print and layer on top. He's definitely passionate about defence and that's what you want.”
It was not all business after Joe El-Abd’s arrival at ‘HQ’, with Furbank eager to unearth some stories about his head coach Steve Borthwick. El-Abd and Borthwick have a 26-year friendship, with the coaching pair at one point sharing a flat together in their youth.
“There’s got to be some stories in there! We’ll try and get them out as we come and feedback.” Furbank joked.
Furbank has the perfect opportunity to right the wrongs of the Summer, as England welcome the All Blacks to the Allianz on November 2nd. New Zealand handed England back-to-back defeats upon their recent Summer tour, with Furbank unable to play in the second Test after a back injury ended his season a fixture ahead of schedule.
Furbank came off on the worse end of a heavy coming together with All Blacks wing Sevu Reece, in what was one many ground-shaking collisions to echo around Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium. Furbank was forced to stand down the Eden Park return match with a back injury, and has his sights set on redemption against Scott Robertson’s men next month.
“I was gutted. Obviously, Eden Park is a pretty historic place to play as well. I was buzzing to play there once, but I would have loved that second game as well. So yeah, I was pretty gutted. But yes, it’s another very exciting opportunity to now play them at home, and hopefully I get myself into into that match day 23 and have another shot.”
“I think with 15 minutes to go in both games, we put ourselves in a position to go and win both matches, and ultimately came out on the wrong side through a few different elements of the game. So we look back with frustration, but we also look back like we felt that we developed massively as a team over that tour, and we just want to continue doing that.”
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