England fullback embraces All Blacks influence
For England fullback George Furbank it does not get any more exciting than what’s coming his way in Dunedin on Saturday night, though he credits a Kiwi coach with having him as prepared, and as calm, as he can be for one of the greatest challenges in international rugby.
The 27-year-old Northampton Saints standout is a long-time admirer of the New Zealand game and he’s sure Saturday’s first crack at the All Blacks under the roof of Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin will be a test that will go straight to the top of his career highlights pantheon.
But there’s also a strong sense of anticipation and readiness for what lies ahead as he realises a lifelong dream to face the All Blacks on their home turf, and does so with an England side that is not only in the process of reconfiguring its game, but also appears to be morphing into a very handy side under Steve Borthwick.
Furbank, who will play his 11th test for England on Saturday should he be selected, made it clear in Auckland yesterday that he was an unabashed admirer of the New Zealand game.
“If I’m playing, this is going to be top of the list,” he said of his career highlights. “Obviously I’m an England supporter but I grew up watching the All Blacks loads and admiring those guys. The likes of Beauden Barrett is someone I’ve looked up to since I was young. It will be an amazing experience to face the haka … I know how much rugby means to the Kiwis and I’m sure it’s going to be a decent atmosphere.”
Furbank name-checked Ben Smith and Israel Dagg as two other All Blacks he had admired from afar and said the All Blacks style, especially in the backfield, had been a big inspiration on his game.
“It’s their ability to play to space and see space,” he added. “The All Blacks are one of the best teams in the world at doing that. They’re happy to go from anywhere on the pitch. If they see an opportunity they’re going to back themselves and I’ve been lucky enough to play at a club that has implemented a similar sort of thing.
“I’ve grown up watching those guys do it and to be at a club that does that sort of thing as well, I’ve taken a lot from that.”
Furbank, of course, was referring to the influence of former Hurricanes maestro Chris Boyd who ran the show at Northampton from 2018-22, and introduced a style of rugby that is now filtering into the national team.
“It was about playing to space,” said Furbank.
“You never mention the word risk with him. It was always a decision, and if you’re making the right decision, whether that be on your own tryline or the opposition tryline, he’s going to back you to do that. It’s about seeing that decision in the first place and backing yourself to execute it.
“He gave us a sense of freedom to go and play. Some coaches potentially make you worried about making mistakes, whereas this was a new philosophy and one that helped the young guys coming through.”
Furbank said the pragmatic nature of international rugby demanded a little more risk-averse mindset, but he believes the Northampton approach is rubbing off on an England side determined to play more rugby in this new era.
“There’s definitely a sense of seeing opportunities and then backing ourselves to take those,” he said. “We’ve got a very exciting young backline who want to be able to do that and the coaches have fully bought into that as well.”
Furbank further expanded on the less inhibited, more ambitious style this side is starting to play with when he was asked about the strengths England would take to Saturday’s first of back-to-back July tests.
“We’ve got some very good and accurate kickers, and some wingers who are pretty happy going and getting the ball back in the air. That’s a big strength of ours. I think we’ve added some really good layers on to our attack as well. We’ve got a better understanding now as a group of where we want our attack to go and what we want our attack to look like.”