‘He gave us a sense of freedom’ – England star pays tribute to New Zealander ahead of All Blacks series
George-Furbank-for-England-with-Chris-Boyd-inset-Alamy
England full-back George Furbank has paid tribute to the impact former Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd had on his and other Saints players’ careers.
Furbank is currently preparing with the Red Rose ahead of the opening fixture of a two-Test series against the All Blacks, which kicks off in Dunedin this Saturday.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the Forsyth Barr Stadium clash, he touched on how New Zealander Boyd had inspired the Saints during his time in the Premiership.
Boyd praise
“It was about playing to space. You never mention the word risk with him,” Furbank said of former boss Boyd, who laid the foundations for Saints’ future success.
“It was always a decision and if you’re making the right decision, whether that be on your own try-line or the opposition try-line, he’s going to back you to do that. It’s about seeing that decision in the first place and backing yourself to execute it.
“He gave us a sense of freedom to go and play. Some coaches potentially make you worried about making mistakes, whereas this was a new philosophy and one that helped the young guys coming through.
“The All Blacks are happy to go from anywhere on the pitch. If they see an opportunity they’re going to back themselves and I’ve been lucky enough to play at a club that has implemented a similar sort of thing.”
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Boyd left the current Premiership champions in 2022 and handed the reins to Phil Dowson, who has built on what the ex-Hurricanes head coach put in place.
Furbank is not the only England international to flourish at Saints in recent years as fly-half Fin Smith, scrum-half Alex Mitchell, wing Ollie Sleightholme, wing/centre Tommy Freeman, second-row Alex Coles and centre Fraser Dingwall are all in Steve Borthwick’s squad that has travelled to New Zealand for the upcoming series.
It promises to be a captivating two games and Furbank has stressed England must not shy away from their attack-minded style that was evident in the Six Nations.
“There’s definitely a sense of seeing opportunities and then backing ourselves to take them,” he said.
“We’ve got a very exciting young backline who want to be able to do that and the coaches have fully bought into that as well.
“We’ve got some very good and accurate kickers and some wingers who are pretty happy going and getting the ball back in the air. That’s a big strength of ours that’s clear to see.
“We’ve added some really good layers on to our attack as well. We’ve got a better understanding now as a group of where we want our attack to go and what we want our attack to look like.”