{"id":61088,"date":"2025-04-29T20:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T20:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/61088\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T20:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T20:18:11","slug":"england-star-facing-race-against-time-to-be-fit-for-this-summers-lions-tour-of-australia-after-suffering-setback-in-recovery-from-a-broken-arm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/61088\/","title":{"rendered":"England star facing race against time to be fit for this summer&#8217;s Lions tour of Australia after suffering setback in recovery from a broken arm"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>George Furbank broke his arm while playing for Northampton in December<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>He missed the Six Nations but returned to club rugby earlier this month<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>He is still struggling with his arm and is now a doubt for the Lions tour\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-179\/alex-bywater.html\" class=\"author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ALEX BYWATER<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  14:08 EDT, 29 April 2025   |  Updated:  14:08 EDT, 29 April 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">England full-back George Furbank will miss Northampton\u2019s crunch Investec Champions Cup semi-final with Leinster and is a doubt for this summer\u2019s Lions tour due to an arm issue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Furbank missed the 2025 <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/six_nations\/index.html\" id=\"mol-10fe6a70-2522-11f0-b9f4-35fe61a657ec\" rel=\"noopener\">Six Nations<\/a> after breaking his arm on European club duty in <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/south-africa-rugby\/index.html\" id=\"mol-10f5def0-2522-11f0-b9f4-35fe61a657ec\" rel=\"noopener\">South Africa<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He made his return against Castres on April 12, coming off the bench after just three minutes before then being replaced in the second half of the same game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The 28-year-old\u2019s status as England No 1 in his position means he will be a big miss for Northampton at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Furbank is yet to be ruled out of the summer\u2019s Lions trip or England\u2019s summer matches with Argentina and USA, if selected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018George won&#8217;t play this weekend. He&#8217;s struggling to get over that arm break and getting back into contact is hard for him,\u2019 said Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-9f8a794ad96e9ea3\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97835715-14660925-image-m-51_1745949011411.jpg\" height=\"454\" width=\"634\" alt=\"George Furbank (second left) missed the Six Nations and is still struggling with an arm injury\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">George Furbank (second left) missed the Six Nations and is still struggling with an arm injury<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-c9627b2748d722a5\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97835719-14660925-image-a-52_1745949052510.jpg\" height=\"436\" width=\"634\" alt=\"He returned to action for Northampton earlier this month but will miss this weekend's Champions Cup semi-final with Leinster\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">He returned to action for Northampton earlier this month but will miss this weekend&#8217;s Champions Cup semi-final with Leinster<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-c5a73bfc3965f508\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97835741-14660925-image-a-53_1745949091821.jpg\" height=\"370\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Furbank is now a doubt to play for Andy Farrell's British &amp; Irish Lions this summer\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Furbank is now a doubt to play for Andy Farrell&#8217;s British &amp; Irish Lions this summer<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018He keeps getting whacked and it&#8217;s going numb. It&#8217;s very painful. I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s unusual for an arm that\u2019s been plated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018He&#8217;s clearly desperate to get back in, particularly for a game like this. But unfortunately, it&#8217;s too soon. He&#8217;s not a soft lad, but it&#8217;s clearly very painful and worst case we don&#8217;t want to make it any worse. We&#8217;re trying to manage that conservatively with the stresses of time running out as well.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Furbank is a potential Lion at No 15, with Scotland\u2019s Blair Kinghorn the front runner in that position. Ireland\u2019s Hugo Keenan is another option.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Lions head coach Andy Farrell names his squad for the tour of Australia on May 8.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Pressed if he thought Furbank would be a candidate for that trip, Dowson said: \u2018It\u2019s week by week. I couldn&#8217;t tell you what&#8217;s going to happen. I&#8217;ve asked the physio about 485 times if he can play and the physio has said no every time. I&#8217;ll ask again next week.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">While focusing on European action, Dowson also had his say on the future of the Gallagher Premiership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Talks have begun to make English rugby\u2019s top-flight a 10-team franchise league in a move that would bring an end to promotion and relegation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018My concern about rugby isn\u2019t necessarily on the competitive nature of it and the relegation and promotion,\u2019 Dowson said.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-7a7af63f6e1b1fa4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97835827-14660925-image-a-54_1745949193384.jpg\" height=\"430\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Furbank played in the quarter-final against Castres, but will not be available this weekend\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Furbank played in the quarter-final against Castres, but will not be available this weekend<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-303e12e41e11ecf5\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97835805-14660925-image-a-55_1745949224354.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Northampton's director of rugby Phil Dowson (pictured) has admitted he's concerned about the financial situation that clubs are currently finding themselves in\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Northampton&#8217;s director of rugby Phil Dowson (pictured) has admitted he&#8217;s concerned about the financial situation that clubs are currently finding themselves in<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018It\u2019s more the financial stability of the clubs and the unions. Our chief executive told me when he was leaving last year we\u2019d lost \u00a31.7million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018He said: \u201cThat\u2019s good. We were forecast to lose \u00a32.7m.\u201d Rugby is nuts. That\u2019s what frightens me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018We\u2019ve got to start thinking about the financial implications of relegation. It puts people off. My concern would be around the long-term financial viability of the game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018It would be great if you could get to that point. But in the short term, we\u2019re putting fingers in holes at the moment and trying to make ends meet. It worries me.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        England star facing race against time to be fit for this summer&#8217;s Lions tour of Australia after suffering setback in recovery from a broken arm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Furbank broke his arm while playing for Northampton in December He missed the Six Nations but returned&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[748,92,393,4211,4884,4204,93,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-61088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-england-rugby","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-rugbyunion","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114423104722827407","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}