Northampton will assess George Furbank over the approaching days after the England star’s comeback was lower brief in a 51-16 victory over Castres at Franklin’s Gardens.
Saints arrange an Investec Champions Cup semi-final in opposition to Leinster in Dublin on Could 3 after one other extremely spectacular show in opposition to French opposition, crushing Castres per week after they dispatched Clermont in equally conclusive style.
The win got here at a value, nevertheless, after wing George Hendy dislocated his shoulder within the fourth minute, leaving him with a battle to play once more this season in addition to threatening his availability for England’s summer season tour to Argentina.
On account of Hendy’s damage, Furbank stepped off the bench for his first look since struggling a fractured arm in December and lasted 51 minutes earlier than being compelled off himself.
Furbank ran in a attempt, arrange two extra and confirmed his mettle in defence, however having crossed within the forty fifth minute he rose to his ft in clear discomfort holding his bandaged proper arm.
“George was dropped straight in and that’s powerful to do. In a perfect world he wouldn’t have been on after three and a half minutes,” Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson stated.
“He confirmed the category he has and his high quality with the 2 assists for the attempt to in his potential to maneuver the ball – all of the components of his sport that you simply love him for.
“However he’s performed a whole lot of minutes there and we’ve simply tried to verify we glance after him as a result of he will get sore and was blowing a bit.
“He’s received some ice on it and we’ll take a look at it to see how he feels. It’s laborious to inform at this level.
“He’s had one full coaching week as a result of he was in poor health final week, which is after we would have had some collision coaching.
“One full coaching week and also you flip up the temperature in a giant sport in a quarter-final like that in opposition to some huge fellas, it’s going to take a bang in some unspecified time in the future.
“That’s one of the best factor for it to see the place he’s at and hopefully he’ll be all proper. He’ll ice up and we’ll speak to the physios to see how he’s.”
Northampton’s prize for overwhelming Castres is a rematch of final season’s semi-final in opposition to Leinster after they have been narrowly crushed at Croke Park after falling brief with a late fightback.
The Irish province have appeared unstoppable after sweeping apart Harlequins and Glasgow and Dowson is wanting ahead to taking up certainly one of Europe’s heavyweights.
“I watched their sport in opposition to Glasgow and it was extremely spectacular. Glasgow are an excellent aspect, they’re URC champs, however Leinster have been ruthless,” Dowson stated.
“We’ll have a look at that over the following couple of weeks, however we’ve received Newcastle on a brief flip round and our league place is a frustration for us all in the mean time.
“There’s clearly world-class expertise in that Leinster group they usually’re clearly taking part in nicely, however they’re the challenges we signed up for.”
