Steve Borthwick’s unexpected change at full back for the Calcutta Cup heralds the second coming of George Furbank as an England player. The Northampton Saint has replaced Freddie Steward for the trip to Murrayfield, joining the ranks of England players who were capped and ditched by Eddie Jones, only to have their careers revitalised by Borthwick.
Four of them start against Scotland tomorrow: Furbank, Tommy Freeman, Ben Earl and Ollie Lawrence, who has returned from a five-week hip injury to start at inside centre. With Alex Mitchell suffering a knee problem, Danny Care takes over at scrum half to win his 99th Test cap and Ben Spencer, last seen in an England jersey in the 2019 World Cup final, is on the bench.
George Martin, the destructive Leicester Tigers lock who made his debut under Jones in the Covid Six Nations of 2021, is fit to be named among the replacements as one of five changes Borthwick has made to the 23-man squad who opened the Six Nations with victories over Italy and Wales.
There is a different dynamic to this side. Ellis Genge, starting at loose-head prop, and Lawrence will bring a more impactful carrying threat to an England team that was lacking physicality. At the back, they now have the more creative presence of Furbank, who has taken his game to another level with Northampton this season.
The 27-year-old made an inauspicious Test debut against France in 2020 and featured intermittently thereafter, including an appearance at fly half against Tonga. Furbank’s most recent cap, against France in Paris two years ago, came out of the blue after Max Malins was dropped by Jones for poor body language in training.
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On that occasion, Steward was switched to the wing. This time, Steward does not feature at all, two weeks after his dominant performance under the high ball was integral to England’s victory over Wales at Twickenham. Steward’s competitive outlet this week has been restricted to games of darts with Furbank in the team room.
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Borthwick presented the selections of Lawrence and Furbank as a package and that is certainly the case in attack. Lawrence is by no means just a midfield meat-head — he has sharp footwork, good hands and a turn of pace that Finn Russell has used to excellent effect for Bath this season — but a natural playmaker he is not. At Bath, he plays at outside, not inside, centre.
Furbank therefore comes into the side to bring balance to England’s back line, offering the vision of a fly half in the back field, a creative threat on the counterattack and a player capable of packing a punch on both sides of the ball. “I am looking to be George Ford’s eyes and ears,” Furbank said. “I want to feed information to him, dominate with the ball in hand and be aggressive.”
There is arguably no full back in the world as consistent under the high ball as Steward and England sacrifice that by not selecting him. But Borthwick believes that Furbank’s defensive nous can help to negate Russell, the Scotland fly half, and shore up England’s new blitz defence.
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The narrow, aggressive system brought in by Felix Jones, who won the World Cup with South Africa, makes different demands of a full back.
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The focus of the blitz defence is to stop the attacking threat at source, by pressuring the fly half or catching the midfield man and ball. The risk, though, is that you can be outflanked.
It took South Africa 14 games to embed their blitz defence. This is game No 3 for England, so it is almost inevitable that Russell will conjure an opening at some stage, either with a piece of passing brilliance or by bringing his creative kicking game to bear. Jesse Kriel, the South Africa outside centre, said this week that shutting down Russell in Marseille was one of the toughest challenges he faced during the Springboks’ run to winning the World Cup.
If and when Scotland do succeed in getting outside of England’s defence, it will be Furbank’s responsibility to occupy the space as a false wing and shut down the attack. Not only is he more agile over the ground than Steward, his ability to make quick defensive reads and execute one-on-one tackles, both of which have been enhanced by his time at fly half this season, will be vital.
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“Ultimately, Felix sees us as extra wingers,” Furbank said. “It is quite an aggressive defence. I found it a bit daunting to start off with, to be honest. I had never defended in a system like that and you do feel a bit exposed to start with. But it is exciting.
“This is not going to be a game where you can afford to switch off. Finn can pull anything out of a hat. We spoke a lot about it as a team this week and I’ve thought a lot about it individually, that concentration side of things. If he wants to pull something out of a hat we’ve just got to be alive to that and ready to react.
“He’s very good at painting pictures with his body and then doing something different that you don’t expect. That’s what makes him hard to read. He can set up for a long kick into the right corner and the next minute he’s hitting a crossfield kick to the wing. You’ve got to be on your toes all the time.”
Furbank’s Test debut in Paris was a baptism of fire. He feels a different player now, a maturation process helped by visiting a sports psychologist, adding 3kg in muscle mass and taking on the captaincy reins at Northampton, who are top of the Gallagher Premiership and undefeated in Europe.
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“I have definitely grown as a player and a person,” he said. “I feel like a different player coming into this campaign. It was more of a surprise to me than anything [making his debut]. I feel more ready now than I did back then. There were a few years where my form wasn’t necessarily good enough at Saints to catch the eye. I needed to work on my game and I have done that.
“Working with a psychologist has given me a different perspective. I was a bit of a worrier and I worried about opinions that didn’t really matter. Confidence, self-belief and moving on from errors; that has all been helped.”
Phil Dowson, the Saints director of rugby, said Furbank felt he had a point to prove after missing out on the World Cup. “The fact he has become more powerful in pre-season has had an impact on his performance,” Dowson said. “Furbs is playing the best rugby of his career at the moment. He has a special knack of being able to create space for other people, whether he’s at full back or fly half.
“He’s always had tons of ability on the ball. He’s one of those annoying sportsmen who’s brilliant at everything he tries, but this year he’s added a real physicality and edge to his game. He’s in a purple patch of form. He is an intelligent fellow and leadership has allowed him to put his mark on the team.”
Now, Furbank’s mission tomorrow, as he embarks on his second coming as an international player, is to do the same with England and help regain the Calcutta Cup.
Scotland v England
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Six Nations, Murrayfield
Saturday, kick-off 4.45pm
TV BBC 1
