Saints boss Dowson delivers injury update on England trio

Neither player has been able to feature so far this season, with Furbank making his way back from a calf injury and Sleightholme recovering from a hamstring issue.

But both men are now back to full fitness and set to play a part in this weekend's PREM Rugby Cup clash at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

"They're both playing this weekend," confirmed Saints boss Phil Dowson, bringing a cheer from the assembled fans at Tuesday night's supporter forum.

"It's been hugely frustrating for George because he had a horrible year last year and the start of this year wasn't much better.

"We've been particularly conservative in his return to play to make sure we give him every opportunity to get a decent run of games, get some confidence back and get some miles back into the legs.

"Ollie had a year that was frustrating and because he is so athletic and you've got to be careful with soft tissue injuries, we've been fairly slow in reintegrating him back."

The news on Tommy Freeman is not as good though as he will play no further part in England's autumn campaign due to a hamstring problem.

Freeman had started in the wins against Australia and Fiji earlier this month, but was ruled out of the game against New Zealand on Saturday and is also set to miss the clash with Argentina eight days later.

"It's severe enough that he won't be playing and more games for England in the next two weeks," said Dowson when asked about Freeman's injury.