Semi hammer blow as Saints' England star is ruled out

NEWS: Northampton captain George Furbank is out of Saturday’s Champions Cup semifinal against Leinster.

The England fullback marked his return from the broken arm he suffered in December with a try as Saints powered past Castres 51-16 in the quarterfinal.

But Furbank is still feeling the effects of having metal plates inserted into his arm and will miss this weekend’s blockbuster in Dublin.

“George won’t play this weekend,” said director of rugby Phil Dowson.

“He’s struggling to get over that arm break, and getting back into contact is hard for him. He keeps getting whacked, and it’s going numb and it’s very painful.

“I don’t think that’s unusual for an arm that’s been plated. He’s clearly desperate to get back in, particularly for a game like this, but unfortunately, it’s too soon.”

Dowson was unable to say whether Furbank will play a part again this season, or if he would be available should the Lions come calling this summer.

“It’s week by week, really,” added Dowson. “He’s not a soft lad, but it’s clearly very painful, and worst-case, we don’t want to make it any worse.

“We’re trying to manage that conservatively with the stresses of time running out as well.

“I think it’s very variable but my impression is it takes a while to get back into it. There’s not a huge amount of meat around that part of the body if you’re swinging it around and landing on it in a tackle, or if other people are landing on it.

“I couldn’t tell you what’s going to happen. I’ve asked the physio about 485 times if he can play, and the physio has said no every time. I’ll ask again next week.”

Saturday’s showdown is a repeat of last season’s semifinal, which Leinster won 20-17.