It was a fair cop... Dafydd reveals the true story of how Wales coach Hansen had him bang to rights!

WHEN one past Ospreys signing turned up for his first media session after arriving at the Liberty, he admitted to having studied the spectacular mural on a wall in the Sony Suite at Llandarcy, a work of art that captured the deeds of great players who had spurred the region forward in their first decade.

“I’ve seen all the names and faces on that wall and it would be huge if I could follow them and leave a legacy,” he said.

Sadly, his image never made the mural.

It wasn’t totally his fault. The Ospreys no longer had the all-round firepower to challenge for trophies and the chap in question, an excellent player, was hit by injuries. He eventually left without fanfare.

The tale underlines there are no guarantees for any new signing.

On Monday, George North will check in at the Ospreys, starting his customised pre-season programme.

He is the type of signing the region used to make as a matter of course, a marquee player to excite fans and give the team an extra dimension. Justin Marshall was recruited in 2006, Marty Holah the following year, Tommy Bowe the season after that and Jerry Collins came in during 2009, with every one of those a success.

Marshall gave the Ospreys belief and encouraged already good players to feel they could be better; Holah delivered grit and world-class excellence week-in, week-out; Bowe contributed lethal opportunism and tries, lots of them; and Collins supplied unbreakable resolve and immense power.

It is a different world at the Ospreys today, of course.

But class always counts and North’s goal will be to make a difference.

Supporters might even quietly hope that the scorer of 33 tries from 76 games for Wales will prove the kind of success out wide that Bowe and Shane Williams once were. Is such a thing imaginable? Head coach Allen Clarke said: “Wings pride themselves on scoring tries and I am sure George is no different in that respect.

“But he also has an allround game that is going to help us.

“The challenge for us as a team is to get him on the ball during matches and give him opportunities to show what a good player he is.

“We have to remember, too, that it’s a team game and we need everyone to be firing.

“That said, we are hugely excited about having George in our squad. He is an exceptional player who has already achieved so much. Any side would want to have him on their books.”

If the Ospreys can get North playing to potential, they will be on their way.

His defence has been criticised, but he can be devastating in attack, never more so than against Ireland in the Six Nations in 2017. That night North ripped apart one of the best defences in world rugby with five clean breaks, eight defenders beaten and two tries.

Not even Joe Schmidt could nullify the 6ft 4in, 17st 5lb wideman.

Schmidt is arguably the most meticulous coach in the game, a man who stays up until the early hours and rises before dawn to watch matches back on tape and give his side an extra edge. But in that match the only way to counter North would have been to shell him and then send in the infantry.

Against New Zealand a year earlier the big man made six clean breaks in opposition to Julian Savea, who found himself dropped for the next game.

The Ospreys will look to the midfield triangle of Sam Davies, Owen Watkin and Scott Williams to create chances for their new Lion out wide. If backs coach Matt Sherratt can ignite the potential of that trio — and he will need the Ospreys pack to deliver — the possibilities are considerable. Is there scope to improve North? “The day a player or coach feels he is the finished article is the day he should get out of the game,” said Clarke.

“If myself, Brad Davies, Matt Sherratt, our strength and conditioning team and everyone else didn’t feel we could put packages together to improve players then we shouldn’t be in our positions. “All of us can get better.” The Ospreys will hope the acquisition of North captures the imagination of their support base. “He has tremendous appeal in world rugby and represents much of what’s good about Wales,” said Clarke.

“Considering all he’s achieved at such a young age, he’s very grounded and his modesty is admirable.

“So I think he will prove popular with everyone. “We are looking forward to seeing how he and all our other new players fit in.”

Some will feel it is a big ask for North to come close to matching the achievements of wing legends Bowe and Williams at the Ospreys.

But he is no ordinary player. He is someone capable of lifting his game to great heights.

It would be a surprise if his image doesn’t appear on any future murals at the Ospreys. THE memory drifts back to a golden autumn afternoon in 1996 at the Brewery Field, when two young centres sliced Neath apart so ruthlessly the thought was Bridgend had drafted Jack the Ripper and his mate into their side.

When they stopped counting, the hosts had scored 59 points and the Welsh All Blacks 13. Quite how many clean breaks Dafydd James and Gareth Thomas made in midfield that day was another matter.

They were fast, powerful and relentless, and Neath couldn’t cope.

Had the pair been wearing black instead of blue and white, it would have been a different story altogether.

James went on to play 48 times for Wales and feature in three Tests for the Lions. During that series against Australia in 2001, one respected writer described his efforts as ‘regal.’ For a long time, he held the record as top try scorer in the Heineken Cup. Even now, only three players have crossed the whitewash more times than James managed in top-tier European rugby.

He has a great rugby back catalogue, then, and some wonderful tales to tell.

But the question at the top of this writer’s notepad concerns an incident off the pitch.

It is a query he could have evaded as easily as he once slipped past tackles during his playing career.

But he is up for a chat and invites me to bring it on. IT concerns an episode that unfolded many years ago when James was playing for Wales. Their coach at the time, Steve Hansen, had insisted all players should stay in camp at the Vale of Glamorgan Hotel. James slipped off home for the night, only to be greeted by the New Zealander in the car park the following morning.

What happened next? James has never spoken publicly and fully about the episode before. But when the potential googly is sent down to him, he deals with it without flinching. “It was an incident that happened a long time ago, when I was young and a bit naive,” he says. “I brought it on myself in a way. “Living just 20 minutes from the Vale, I thought it would be a good opportunity to go home for a good night’s sleep. Everyone wants to sleep at home at night and I was no different. “Unfortunately, I bumped into Steve Hansen in the hotel car park as I returned the next morning. It was really early and hardly anyone else was around. “He had put in place rules for players to stay in the hotel. “I think he suspected a few of us hadn’t exactly been sticking to those rules, anyway, so there he was, standing before me and asking where I’d been.

“I was caught on the hop and told him I couldn’t sleep and had been up to the car to get my laptop because I wanted to watch a film.

“He said: ‘So you haven’t been home for the night, then?’ “I just froze and said: ‘No.’ “He suggested I go back to my room.”

James continues: “I told our wing Mark Jones I had a bad feeling about the whole episode and was in the process of trying to persuade him to cover for me when there was a knock on the door. It was Steve. He whistled to me, as you would if you were calling a dog. “I didn’t budge at first. “But when I went to see him he told me he had felt the hood and exhaust of the car and both were warm. There was nowhere to go after that really.

“He was a former police officer and I’d been caught out.

“The thing was, around eight other boys had gone home as well. Nothing was said to any of them.

“But there he was, outside that door, Inspector Clouseau.”

Case closed and all that .....

BUT as contrite as he is about his decision to tell a white lie about where he’d slept the previous night – a regrettable occurrence, but hardly a hanging offence – James still feels a tad hard done-by. “I think he was gunning for me,” he says. “A meeting was called, with the end result being that I was dropped for the next game because I hadn’t told the truth. “It made me laugh in a way. “Our centre Jamie Robinson had gone home and hadn’t even returned in time for the meeting, yet I don’t think they even noticed he wasn’t there. “Such is life. “The press called the hotel the Jail of Glamorgan.