Northampton sweat on fitness of key players before Champions Cup final

Northampton are sweating on the fitness of a quartet of key players before the Champions Cup final against Bordeaux-Bègles in Cardiff on Saturday. The hooker Curtis Langdon, the lock Alex Coles and the full-back James Ramm are all battling to overcome injuries, while management are also waiting to discover if the club captain, George Furbank, can feature in the matchday 23.

Saints, who are already without Ollie Sleightholme, George Hendy, Juarno Augustus and Burger Odendaal, will be particularly stretched at hooker and in the back three should Langdon, Ramm and Furbank all be ruled out. Langdon has a shoulder problem, Ramm damaged a shin against Saracens last Saturday while the similarly influential Coles has a knee injury. None of that trio could train on Tuesday.

Furbank has barely played since breaking an arm against the Bulls in December and aggravated the injury against Castres in their quarter-final last month. The England full-back had a metal plate inserted in his forearm but has been experiencing discomfort since taking a heavy blow to the same arm when scoring a try in the Castres game.

Northampton’s director of rugby, Phil Dowson, revealed Furbank had played a “limited” part in training but said a decision on his participation would be delayed until later in the week. “We’ve been down this road before with Furbs so I’m reticent to say ‘he’s great’ but he’s feeling good and we’ll make a decision after he’s trained on Thursday,” said Dowson.

In the absence of Sleightholme and Hendy, there will be an obvious temptation to rush Furbank back on to the bench if possible, with Tommy Freeman potentially set to start at full-back if Ramm does not recover in time. If the combative Langdon is also ruled out, Saints may have to name the erstwhile Ealing reserve hooker Henry Walker among their replacements as they seek to lift the club game’s most prestigious trophy for the first time since 2000.

Bordeaux, by contrast, are confident that their star winger Damian Penaud will be fit for the showpiece finale. The 28-year-old, who has scored 12 tries in the tournament this season, was a doubt after limping off in the semi-final win over Toulouse but his ankle injury has responded well to treatment, according to his head coach, Yannick Bru.

The French side’s first appearance in a Champions Cup final is also to be viewed by a wider audience after a deal was struck between the UK rights holders Premier Sports and the tournament organisers which will result in the game being broadcast free-to-air on BBC iPlayer and the Welsh broadcaster S4C.