GEORGE Furbank missed an opportunity to get one over the All Blacks in July – now he has his eyes skilled on the rematch at Twickenham subsequent month.
The Northampton fullback pulled out of July’s second Take a look at in Auckland with a again spasm and sat within the stands as England went down 24-17.
Furbank had been name-checked by the Kiwis after the primary sport in Dunedin for his attacking risk however was robbed of the chance to point out them extra by the damage.
The 27-year-old is a certainty for Steve Borthwick‘s squad for the autumn, which is introduced on Wednesday, and is relishing one other crack on the New Zealanders after his heartbreak in the summertime.
He mentioned: “I used to be gutted, Eden Park is a historic place. I used to be buzzing to play in New Zealand as soon as however I needed to play that second sport. However that is one other alternative to have one other shot at them at residence.
Keen: George Furbank
“With quarter-hour to go in each video games we had put ourselves in place to win each and finally got here out on the flawed facet by way of a number of totally different components. We glance again with frustration however we additionally look again with a sense we developed massively as a workforce on that tour.
“We’ve got spoken briefly about the place we wish to enhance. We’re fairly clear on areas we have to enhance to come back out on the precise facet of these video games which are tight.”
Furbank admitted he was shocked when Felix Jones handed in his discover to the RFU having simply received to grips with the Irishman’s blitz defence however isn’t anticipating his alternative, Joe El-Abd, to try to reinvent the defensive wheel.
“I don’t assume Joe’s going to come back in and alter issues massively,” Fur-bank added. “He’s going to look to place his mark on it however, finally, it’s about bettering the place we’re in the intervening time with our D. We got here on leaps and bounds with that aggressive blitz defence so we’re simply going to take a look at preserve bettering that.
“I’d by no means performed in a blitz D earlier than so when it was first launched it felt a bit of bit bizarre. It takes a few periods to get into it. You’re in all probability worrying an excessive amount of about backfield area. As a full-back you don’t actually need the ball kicked in behind you however finally you depend on the lads inside you to place sufficient stress on the kicker so he can’t get the kick away.
“Not most of the lads had skilled something prefer it. There’s solely Exeter and probably Sale who defend like that within the Premiership so it took some time to get used to it. It depends on the entire squad, there can’t simply be a few guys who’re good at it – it takes the entire squad to be invested in it for it to work.”
