England captain Jamie George has opened up on what will be an “emotional” weekend at Murrayfield as he navigates the tough time he is facing after his mum’s recent passing.
George’s mother Jane recently passed away, just a few weeks into his run as the newly-named England captain for the 2024 Six Nations.
In a social media post just less than a week ago, George said: “Rest easy Mum. You were one of a kind.”
England prepare to face Scotland on Saturday and for George, it will be a bittersweet moment as the rest of his family travel up to watch him, but it will be the first match without his mum who “never missed a game”.
“I am okay. I think you go through a range of different emotions in a time like this,” George told Sky Sports News.
“It is great to be here and it has been a great outlet for me to come into camp.
“What an amazing group I have had. They have really welcomed me back and looked after me.
“It has been a tough few weeks, I won’t lie, but it is amazing to be here and the reality of the game hits.
“I have got a lot of really good friends here who have really looked after me.
“They were massively supportive. I think my mum was probably one of the biggest England rugby fans there ever was.
“I know she will be watching somewhere and it is great for the rest of my family to be able to come up and it will be a great day out for my dad.
“It will be a very emotional day, she never missed a game, and this will be the first one that she will miss which is incredibly sad. But I know she was incredibly proud of everything I had achieved and how I have gone about things and I know she will be proud wherever she is now.”
George: We have had to ‘rein in’ our excitement for Calcutta Cup
Scotland head into Saturday’s match trying to avenge their controversial loss to France in the second round, while England will look to maintain their winning streak after victories against Italy and Wales.
Although Scotland have had the better in the Calcutta Cup over the past few years, winning the last three, George insists that England are “motivated” to get a big result.
“We have had to rein things in a little bit this week, you can sense the excitement,” he said.
“You can feel how much this game means to a lot of people, whether that be the history, whether that be what has been said from the Scottish media.
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England full-back George Furbank reveals he had to keep his Calcutta Cup selection secret from his grandparents!
“There is motivation everywhere here and it has been great, the amount of focus and energy this week.
“We want to ride the wave of some pretty good performances over the last couple of weeks.”
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