The England international was left bloodied after a brutal collision which also knocked his opponent’s teeth out
Furbank’s eye was swollen shut by the end of the match(Image: TNT Sports)
Northampton Saints star George Furbank was left with a gruesome injury after a brutal collision with Newcastle Red Bulls centre Sammy Arnold during the two sides’ PREM Rugby clash.
The first-half incident saw the England international collide with Arnold at high speed, with the two players clashing heads as the Newcastle man went too high in the tackle. He was shown a yellow card, but both men were left with nasty-looking injuries as they made their way off the field.
Arnold did not return to the action as he was replaced permanently by interim Newcastle boss Stephen Jones following his yellow card, and it looked as though he lost a couple of teeth in the collision.
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The centre was seen showing his teammates the damage before flashing the television cameras a grin to show his bloodied mouth, with at least one tooth seemingly hanging loose.
Furbank, meanwhile, suffered a cut above his eye, with the full-back seen mopping the blood from his face as he left the pitch to have the gash stitched and presumably undergo a HIA.
However, while Arnold was replaced, the Northampton star later returned to the field and, by the full-time whistle, his eye had closed due to the swelling.
After the game, Furbank’s teammate Curtis Langdon shared a photo of the 29-year-old with his swollen eye on Instagram, captioning it: “Gritty”.
The decision to allow Furbank to return to play has sparked outrage from some, with former Wales international Alix Popham among those slamming the move.
Former Newport and Scarlets back rower Popham is a prominent advocate for player welfare and brain health in sports, having been diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in 2020.
Taking to social media, he shared a video of Furbank sporting his facial injury, and wrote “Just a ‘BRAIN INJURY’, followed by sad and angry face emojis.
Popham again criticised the decision through his lobby group Progressive Rugby, with a post on their X account reading: “This really isn’t a great look for the sport.
“Quite amazed that Furbank came back on given the state of his face,” the group added.
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