Furbank: Stand-in captaincy has brought out best in me

George Furbank believes that his current run as stand-in Saints skipper is giving him an ‘extra buzz’, after another man-of-the-match performance helped Northampton Saints defeat Sale Sharks at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

The 27-year-old took the captaincy again in Lewis Ludlam’s injury-enforced absence and led by example once more in the 21-17 Gallagher Premiership Round 10 victory.

His second-half try moved him to five for the season, making it his most prolific campaign to date for the men in Black, Green and Gold.

The fullback’s quickly-tapped late penalty to force a penalty try secured the win to extend Saints’ unbeaten run to six, and stretch his own winning run when leading the side to nine straight successes across his career.

“The captaincy side of things has helped bring the best out of me,” Furbank said. “It gets me going and it gives me that little bit of an extra buzz to fly into these games and lead from the front with my actions.

Furbank also highlighted his increased size gained from a summer of intense gym work that improved his physicality this season on both sides of the ball, and also pointed to the trust the squad has in each other to deliver, even when the chips appear to be down.

Saints trailed by 14 points early into the second half and then by ten on the hour-mark, but still managed to get the job done against a Sale side that had tasted defeat only once in their previous six Premiership matches.

“I don’t think anything is fazing us too much at the moment,” added Furbank. “Obviously that first half could’ve really frustrated us but we sort of felt calm on the pitch. We had some good chats at half-time and came out in the second half and were able to execute what we wanted to execute.

“There’s a trust now as well; our game plan in our defence and our attack is going to dig us out of these holes if we execute it. Ultimately, when things aren’t going well, can we go back to what we know and what we trust? That is paying off at the moment.”

Phil Dowson’s side are competing strongly on two fronts, securing two bonus point wins to top Investec Champions Cup Pool 3 entering 2024 as well as sitting on top of the Gallagher Premiership.

“It is exciting but we’re only halfway through the season,” added Furbank. “We’ve got to keep pushing on. We’ve got Exeter away next week which is another big challenge, then we want to be able to qualify for the knock-outs of Europe. There’s a few big games on the horizon.”