{"id":352261,"date":"2025-12-16T18:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T18:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/352261\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T18:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T18:32:08","slug":"harlequins-coach-refuses-to-rule-out-move-for-northampton-back-george-furbank-rugby-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/352261\/","title":{"rendered":"Harlequins coach refuses to rule out move for Northampton back George Furbank | Rugby union"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The Harlequins senior coach, Jason Gilmore, has praised the ability of Northampton\u2019s George Furbank and declined to rule out a move for the England back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The 29-year-old Saints star is out of contract next summer and has reportedly held talks with the south-west London club over a switch from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/article\/2024\/jun\/08\/premiership-final-northampton-bath-rugby-union\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2023-24 Premiership winners<\/a>. Gilmore, who is preparing the Harlequins squad for Big Game 17 against Bristol Bears at Twickenham on Saturday, said he is an admirer of the England international but refused to comment on specific \u201cins and outs\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cGeorge is a good player, isn\u2019t he? And a good leader,\u201d Gilmore said, when asked about transfer speculation surrounding the full-back, who made his international debut under Eddie Jones in 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cHe\u2019s going to attract interest. It\u2019s no different to when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quins.co.uk\/article\/cunningham-south-commits-to-quins\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chandler Cunningham-South was up [for contract renewal] a couple of months ago<\/a>. Those players are going to attract interest. Definitely a good player. Would we be interested? We\u2019d be interested in any good player that fits in with our roster. In terms of the ins and outs, like any player, I can\u2019t really disclose actual recruitment strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Twickenham is the venue for Big Game 17 on Saturday, and Gilmore said fans of attacking rugby can expect entertainment from the double header: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/harlequinsru\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Harlequins<\/a> Women v Bristol Bears Women kicks off at 3.05pm before the men\u2019s match at 6pm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cYou\u2019ve got two teams who want to use the football,\u201d Gilmore said. \u201cI don\u2019t see the scoreline being 10-7. Twickenham is a bigger pitch, there\u2019s more space to attack into. When you get two attacking teams on a bigger field, generally you\u2019ll get bigger scorelines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Regarding the threat of Bristol\u2019s South African centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg, who is due to qualify for England next year, Gilmore said: \u201cHe\u2019s a collision guy in that midfield, there\u2019s no shying away from it. You can\u2019t dip your toe in the water against him.<\/p>\n<p>Benhard Janse van Rensburg will offer a threat for Bristol at Twickenham. Photograph: Bob Bradford\/CameraSport\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cYou\u2019ve got to match him and go head-on, one-for-one. How you nullify him is you\u2019ve got to go at him. If you\u2019re passive and you let him run, that\u2019s when he has a field day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Meanwhile, the Gloucester director of rugby, George Skivington, voiced his disappointment at the impending departure of the Wales international Tomos Williams. The Cherry and Whites announced on Tuesday that the scrum-half will leave next summer, with his destination undisclosed. The club also revealed that the scrum-half and Gloucester academy graduate, Dan Robson, will rejoin from Pau for next season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWe did our best but that\u2019s rugby, that\u2019s sport,\u201d Skivington said of Williams. \u201cThere\u2019s no hard feelings and he\u2019s in here for the rest of the season \u2013 I know he\u2019ll give everything. We put our best foot forward and Tommy\u2019s got to make the decision he thinks is right for him. We\u2019re not going to fall out over it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Regarding the signings of Wales captains Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake, announced on Monday, Skivington said: \u201cThey are honest, hard-working, tough characters who really want to do something. They are the right age profile to drive the club forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Harlequins senior coach, Jason Gilmore, has praised the ability of Northampton\u2019s George Furbank and declined to rule&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-352261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}