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Buckden Roundabout
March 2020
George Furbank
Professional rugby player
and international.
2
nd
February, 2020 at 2.55p.m., UK time, George
Furbank stands alongside his fellow players in the
England Rugby Union team in the Stade de France,
Paris, belting out the national anthem. This is surely
the proudest moment in George’s life as he is cho-
sen to represent his country for the first time. And
back in Buckden, many are supporting George as he
takes his first step into the international arena.
In winning his first cap, George was building on a
career that has taken him from local club, Hunting-
don RUFC and their Mini and Junior sections, to full
international in a short time. He is now a member
of an international team that finished runners-up in
the recent World Cup and playing alongside estab-
lished stars and household names such as Owen
Farrell and Maro Itoje.
George was born and raised in Buckden where his family name
is well known. The Furbank family have been associated with
Huntingdon RUFC for around 70 years (his dad was a Club Cap-
tain for six years in the 1990s) and it was natural that George
would play his first rugby from the age of five or so with the
“Stags” Mini and Junior sections .
George was also good at other sports, including cricket where
he was a talented batsman and was on the books at Leicester-
shire until reaching the under-16 level. By that age rugby was
becoming the most serious sporting option and, after transfer-
ring from Kimbolton to Bedford School for the sixth form, he
played for the Bedford School rugby 1st XV before joining up
with the Northampton Saints' Senior Academy in 2015.
Progress for George was relatively fast after that and he helped
his team win the Premiership Rugby U18s League trophy be-
fore becoming a fully-fledged Northampton “Saints” RUFC
player (Saints number 1986) in November 2017.
George made his Northampton Saints debut in the Anglo
Welsh Cup in November 2018 against the Exeter Chiefs and
scored his first senior try. The 2018/19 season was his break-
through year and in total he played in 18 matches and won the
Club’s Player of the Month award for February 2019.
George also played in Northampton’s European Challenge Cup
quarter-final game in Clermont Auvergne (France) and Saints’
Premiership Rugby Cup final victory in 2019, helping North-
ampton claim a first piece of silverware in five seasons.
The latest, and most significant chapter to George’s career is
very recent. On 20 January 2020 George received his first call
up to the senior England squad for the 2020 Six Nations Cham-
pionship and within just a few days was then selected to make
his England debut against France in Paris.
The test match against France proved to be a very difficult one
for the England team, but George will surely make his mark
internationally before too long. Indeed, George was awarded
his second cap the following week against Scotland in a match
that England won.
One question remains – will we see a new ‘George’ on the sign
outside the George Hotel?
Do you know of any other
LOCAL SPORTING HEROES?
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would like this to be an occasional feature so please let our
editor know of any other candidates.
Local sporting heroes
George in 2005
George in 2009