Northampton Saints captain George Furbank is out of Saturday’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final towards Leinster.
The England full-back marked his return from the damaged arm he suffered in December with a attempt as Saints powered past Castres 51-16 within the quarter-final.
However Furbank remains to be feeling the results of getting metal plates inserted into his arm and can miss this weekend’s blockbuster in Dublin.
“George will not play this weekend,” mentioned director of rugby Phil Dowson.
“He is struggling to recover from that arm break and getting again into contact is difficult for him. He retains getting whacked and it is going numb and it is very painful.
“I do not suppose that is uncommon for an arm that is been plated. He is clearly determined to get again in, notably for a sport like this, however sadly it is too quickly.”
Dowson was unable to say whether or not Furbank will play a component once more this season, or if he could be accessible ought to the Lions come calling this summer time.
“It is week by week actually.” added Dowson. “He is not a smooth lad however it’s clearly very painful, and worst-case we do not wish to make it any worse.
“We’re making an attempt to handle that conservatively with the stresses of time operating out as properly.
“I believe it is very variable however my impression is it takes some time to get again into it. There’s not an enormous quantity of meat round that a part of the physique in the event you’re swinging it round and touchdown on it in a deal with or different persons are touchdown on it.
“I could not let you know what is going on to occur. I’ve requested the physio about 485 occasions if he can play and the physio has mentioned no each time. I will ask once more subsequent week.”
Saturday’s showdown is a repeat of final season’s semi-final, which Leinster won 20-17.
Saints have virtually no likelihood of creating the Premiership play-offs in defence of their title, so the Champions Cup is realistically their last chance of silverware this season.
PA
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