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NORTHAMPTON SAINTS DIRECTOR OF RUGBY PHIL DOWSON, HAS NAMED TWO RETURNING ENGLAND BACKS UPON HIS SQUAD FOR THE 2025 INVESTEC CHAMPIONS CUP FINAL. GEORGE FURBANK AND OLLIE SLEIGHTHOLME MARK

THEIR COMEBACKS FROM INJURY, AS THE MEN IN GREEN, GOLD AND BLACK CHASE A FIRST EUROPEAN TITLE SINCE 2011. The Saints take on French titans Bordeaux-Begles in Cardiff, and will be bolstered

by the return of the England speedsters. Furbank originally broke his arm back in December, as Northampton hosted the Bulls for a Champions Cup pool stage match. The 14-capped England

international was on the injury shelf until April, yet aggravated the injury whilst scoring a try in the Champions Cup quarter-final win over Castres. __ Furbank’s current on-field stats for

2025 has come solely from the victory over Castres, as he scored a try and bagged two assists in his 52-minute outing. Phil Dowson expressed how bringing Furbank back for the Champions Cup

Final is ‘a gamble’, yet the fullback is showing promise to come back with a bang for the battle with Bordeaux-Begles. Speaking after Northampton’s Captain’s Run at the Principality Stadium,

Dowson said; “George hasn’t been a mile away. From an arm point of view, he’s had a couple of issues. He’s been getting back into running after a long time away. He’s one of the fortunate

ones for who the timing has worked well. He’s worked incredibly hard. The medics have clearly helped him through that. Him and Sleights were delighted in Dublin after that result because

they were going to be coming fit at this sort of time.” “It’s always a gamble. Whenever you bring someone back from injury, there’s always a point where they’ve got to hit somebody, make a

cover tackle, or go flat out. There’s always a risk there. They were a good 52 minutes. We’re confident he can drop back in from a skills and confidence perspective so that’s one of the

reasons we have.” Ollie Sleightholme rolled his ankle in an England training session, and the injury took place ahead of England’s Guinness Six Nations match against Wales. Sleightholme was

ruled out of the action for ‘Super Saturday’ in Cardiff, but now, the wing gets his long awaited run-out at the Principality Stadium, after his previous medical report had written off the

25-year-old for the remainder of the season. “It was really difficult from a medical point of view to put a timeline on it.” Dowson explained. “It was to stop me questioning him daily by

ruling him out for the rest of the season. These things sometimes happen a bit quicker than planned and that’s obviously a very positive thing. Tom Pearson has probably come fit a week too

late which is frustrating for him. We’re fortunate to have those two guys back.” Furbank is expected to have a heavily protected arm for tomorrow afternoon’s final, with the tape budget

boosted for the fullback’s return. Dowson expressed his delight in having the Northampton club captain back in the fold for a season-defining fixture against the Top 14 flyers. When asked

what Furbank will bring to such a high-stakes occasion, Dowson said; “Leadership, quality, experience. We saw that when he came back against Castres, he had two assists and a try. Now he’s a

fairly seasoned international and club captain. We all know what a consummate ball player he is. His talent is well documented and hopefully we’ll see that. “Ideally we want more of the

same. I think what was impressive was his ability to drop back into our game plan and still see space and make good decisions. Nothing quite replicates a game but his ability to do that

straight off the bat was very impressive.” EDITORS PICKS: