NORTH’S RETURN GAVE US A BOOST – BOOTH
OSPREYS boss Toby Booth was delighted with George North’s return to action as his side celebrated an extraordinary derby triumph over the Scarlets.
The Wales star has been sidelined for a year after suffering a serious knee injury.
It was a problem that ruled him out of last summer’s Lions tour of South Africa.
But he timed his comeback to perfection as the Ospreys produced their best performance of the season. Booth’s men stunned the Scarlets 56-34 to throw the race for Champions Cup qualification into the melting pot again.
North was introduced just before half-time and his mix of strong carrying and footwork made it look like he’d never been away.
Booth said: “It’s just great to see good players get themselves back performing well and playing consistently.
“The nature of the person, the time he’s been out and we had momentum from last week. Those things play a part.
“The good thing for us is that we have more competition in the backline, which is great.
“It’s great to see good players come through long-term injuries and get back performing well.
“Gareth Anscombe is a great example. I said previously that he needed time and we’re starting to see a true reflection of him as a player.
“We could keep going. Those boys that have been absent for a year plus, for us, are big players.
“You can’t hide away from that. It provides opportunity for your other players to get valuable miles on the clock but ultimately there’s a reason that they’ve played 150 first-class games, 150 Test matches.”
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel was left to rue a dismal start to the second half as his side struggled to contain an Ospreys onslaught that ended with the hosts crossing for eight tries.
“I thought the first 20 of the second half we weren’t in the fight, to be honest,” said Peel.
“There were a couple of lapses of concentration from our side which shows a bit of weakness.
“They kicked the ball out, we weren’t ready for a quick throw-in, they scored off that phase. We gave a rubbish penalty at a ruck which gave them access and then we turned the ball over twice and one of them cost us a yellow card.
“It seemed we weren’t ready to go to the next job, we let error compound error and there were also a couple of missed tackles here and there.
“It was disappointing, we were our own worst enemy in the first 20 minutes of the second half and that is what cost us.
“I thought we were in a good place at half-time, I felt we were in control and scored some nice tries.
“We had spoken at half-time that territory was important in this game. We showed in the first half, when we had a good period of territory we put them under pressure and scored points. In the second half, we didn’t have that because we couldn’t sustain any pressure.”
Defeat for the Scarlets means no Welsh side will claim a place in the United Rugby Championship playoffs.