Furbank: We were spoonfed too much

GEORGE Furbank feels Northampton’s rise this season is down to a pre-season meeting when the players resolved to take more responsibility.

- PAUL REES

The Saints head the Premiership table and are in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup with Leinster standing in the way of a first final in 13 years.

“There was a big onus at the start of the season on becoming a bit more player-led,” said Furbank, who took hold of the England full-back jersey from Freddie Steward in the last three rounds of the Six Nations.

“We were probably spoonfed a little too much and on game day we used to rely on coaches, but they are not on the pitch. We put more onus on ourselves and we have become more pragmatic as a backline in our game understanding and management and we are in a better space for it.

“We felt that in tight matches or games where we made slow starts and finished up on the wrong side that there was a reason for that. We wanted to take more responsibility in terms of watching training and giving more feedback to the coaches about what we wanted out of it as a group.

“We had little chats as players about where we could improve and little nuances we thought could change. It has allowed us to manage games and be more pragmatic. Fin Smith is pretty good at it and I have taken a bit on myself.”