‘THIS IS THE BRILLIANT GEORGE WE ALL WANT TO SEE’
IT’S ALL IN YOUR 20-PAGE SPORT PULLOUT
THE playwright and novelist Somerset Maugham once contended that only mediocrity is always at its best. Fair enough, but even he might have been taken aback by the performances of George North over the space of 13 days.
February 25 saw the wing come up with a display for Wales against Scotland that had only one thing wrong with it: it was awful from beginning to end, offering nothing in attack and pretty much the same in defence.
Had the Northampton man being dropped he would have had zero grounds for complaint.
Fast forward to March 10 and the hesitant character who at Murrayfield looked as if he had strayed onto a rugby field for the first time was replaced by a chap in full shock-and-awe mode in Wales’ 22-9 win over Ireland.
North took just 39 seconds to have his first touch of the ball against Ireland — and within 10 minutes had made more metres with ball in hand than he had in the entire game against the Scots.
He powered through the Irish defence for his first try, made four clean breaks, beat eight defenders and added a second touchdown for good measure. There were also seven tackles, pretty much all of them determined, they-shalt-not-pass jobs. It was quite startling. There used to be a comic strip called Billy’s Boots, about a boy who found a pair of magic boots that transformed him into an extraordinary footballer.
Without them, he could do noth---
ing. Had North mislaid his own magic boots for the trip to Edinburgh? And found them again for Ireland’s visit to Cardiff? Probably not. Probably this was just a player responding to the blow-torch treatment from his coaches and criticism from the press and social media. It was a player answering his detractors with his best display in a Test for at least four years.
The unspoken message screamed out: “Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated. Write me off at the risk of looking foolish.” Except that isn’t the whole story. For the challenge for the 68-cap player is to make the display he came up with against Ireland his default setting.
Attitude can do wondrous things in rugby and the 24-year-old somehow needs to hardwire the state of mind he took into the Irish match into his system for every game.
That is what the best players do: they hit a high standard and stay there.
“Richie McCaw and Dan Carter were world-class players because in every game they played they were eight-or-nine-out-of-10 performers,” said Eddie Jones before this Six Nations started.
“They never slipped to a six or a five. “That’s being world class.” That’s something for North to bear in mind.
The excitement in the stadium when he had the ball in space underlined that the public still view the 6ft 4in, 17st 2lb wing as a special player, one of who is capable of deeds that can take a match away from an opposing team.
What was noticeable against Ireland was that he went looking for work.
Shane Williams, who used to set himself a target of achieving upwards of 20 touches a game, had urged North to get involved more, preferably from the first whistle, and the way the former Scarlet went hunting for ball suggested he had taken on board his illustrious former wing partner’s advice.
His first try saw him produce a high-class finish, stepping inside at pace to take him between Keith Earls and Simon Zebo and over the line. The second touchdown was a more regulation affair, but so many other good things embellished the big man’s performance.
Next comes the challenge of playing like it in every game.
For inspiration he could do worse than look to team-mates Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric and Alun Wyn Jones, players who understand the meaning of the word ‘consistency’. Those three were all to the fore against Ireland, along with Rhys Webb, a catalyst if ever there was one.
Let’s hear it, too, for a player who has moved his game on dramatically over the past four games. That would be Ken Owens, playing so well he must be close to being inked in for the Lions’ tour to New Zealand this summer.
It wasn’t total Positives R Us for the hosts.
They scored three tries, but some of the back play wasn’t the smoothest and there remains a shortfall in craft and subtlety. The win was a fine effort, but the reality is Wales still need to develop their game.
But at least North is back in business.
He has endured a tough time, playing a chunk of the season against a backdrop of concern after his latest head injury.
But talent did its thing against Ireland.
North just has to ensure it keeps doing so.