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Test rookie George Furbank backed to deliver as the England No10

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Test rookie George Furbank has been backed to deliver for England if he runs out at Twickenham this Saturday wearing the unfamiliar No10 jersey. The regular Northampton full-back has worn the No15 jersey in his three previous Test starts under Eddie Jones, but he has done some training at out-half in the lead-up to this weekend’s game versus Tonga. 

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With Marcus Smith unable to train fully until Friday’s captain’s run, Furbank had provided out-half cover at training to skipper Owen Farrell, who was named as the England No10 when Jones announced his team on Thursday with Furbank named on the bench as the utility No23 and Smith as the No22 behind Farrell.

Within 24 hours, however, Farrell was placed in isolation after he tested positive for Covid and while England were hopeful that this finding would ultimately be deemed a false positive following retesting and free the captain to play, the expectation was that Furbank would take over the No10 jersey with Smith likely held in reserve. 

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England have yet to provide an update on the situation since Friday’s post-training media session at around 11am but at that stage, they were placing every faith in Furbank who has played at No10 at Northampton at times when Wales out-half Dan Biggar has been unavailable.  

“He [Furbank] is just a class player all round,” said Courtney Lawes. “He can pretty much play any position so he will be fine. The team run went really well on Friday and that will give everyone confidence, especially people that haven’t played much and may potentially be playing where they didn’t think they would be playing. It will be sweet. I guarantee you. 

“Marcus is a good player, has loads of confidence,” he added. “He has stepped up. He hasn’t been able to train much this week but he trained today [Friday], trained very well. It was great to see him back out there.” Lawes was named on Thursday as one of three new England vice-captains along with Tom Curry and Ellie Genge in support of skipper Farrell. 

Did Lawes know by the end of Friday’s captain’s run who will be captain versus Tonga if Farrell is ruled out? “Eddie will make those calls. We all have to do our bit anyway and whoever gets appointed captain we will all support and get on with it. We have been told but I can’t tell you.”

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Whatever about all the late drama leading into the Autumn Nations Series opener due to the Covid outbreak in the England camp, the seasoned Lawes has enjoyed the revamp conducted by Jones who has spruced up both the staff and playing resources. 

“It feels really exciting for me and it does feel like there is something a bit different about it. Since Eddie has been there we haven’t changed how we do things this drastically and it seems to me it is paying off. 

“We have got a good group that has bought into the fact that if we want to go and win some things in the near and distant future then we have to buy into being a team and wanting to get out there and play for each other. That is where we are heading and this is one stone on the path to getting there. 

“Definitely, it’s beginning to be a very player-led environment, not necessarily strategically or anything like that, but that is a good thing. The coaches have a big role strategically but socially and the fabric of the team is very much determined by the players and what they want to do and that is really good.”

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AM 10 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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