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George Furbank withdrawn from England squad hours before Springboks clash - report

George Furbank faces the media during the England media access ahead of the 2026 Nations Championship match against South Africa on July 02, 2026 in Sandton, South Africa. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
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George Furbank has been withdrawn from England’s matchday squad just hours before taking on South Africa at Ellis Park in their opening match of the Nations Championship, The Telegraph have reported.

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The 29-year-old was named to start at full-back by Steve Borthwick in Johannesburg in what would have been his first Test since 2024 after a string of injuries. The Telegraph reports says that he has been taken to hospital with appendicitis, denying him the chance to add to his 14 England caps and likely ruling him out of the remaining Tests against Fiji and Argentina.

There has been no official announcement made by England, but the most likely outcome will be promoting Marcus Smith from the bench to start at full-back, offering a similar attacking profile to Furbank.

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Freddie Steward had already been ruled out of playing due to an ankle injury, leaving England thin on the ground in specialist full-backs.

Smith’s replacement on the bench may be harder to call, however, but the logical candidates will be George Ford, Max Ojomoh, Henry Slade or Noah Caluori.

Fixture
Nations Championship
South Africa
08:40
Today
England
All Stats and Data

England XV
15. George Furbank (Harlequins, 14 caps)
14. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs, 13 caps)
13. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 27 caps)
12. Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby, 4 caps)
11. Cadan Murley (Harlequins, 6 caps)
10. Fin Smith (Northampton Saints, 16 caps)
9. Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 24 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 80 caps) – vice-captain
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 110 caps) – captain
3. Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 22 caps)
4. Alex Coles (Northampton Saints, 19 caps)
5. George Martin (Saracens, 21 caps)
6. Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 35 caps) – vice-captain
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 68 caps)
8. Ben Earl (Saracens, 51 caps)

Replacements
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks, 58 caps)
17. Beno Obano (Bath Rugby, 4 caps)
18. Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks, 6 caps)
19. Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 34 caps)
20. Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby, 12 caps)
21. Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints, 10 caps)
22. Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, 30 caps)
23. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 50 caps)

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Comments

2 Comments
u
unknown 53 mins ago

England have a number of replacements . I doubt that Borthwick will find the right one .

L
LiamBerlin 1 hr ago

That’s a pain in the guts!

Get well soon, George!


I’m interested to see who comes on to the bench. In the unlikely event of Marcus getting injured early doors would Freemo move to 15?

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