George North at 100 IN HIS OWN WORDS
► At 28 years and 320 days, the Wales man will today become the youngest player to win a century of Test caps. He tells Ben Coles about the high spots in red
Favourite tries
Wales v South Africa, Cardiff, November 2010
My first and second tries for Wales on debut, you could put the two of them in together. To play for your country once is huge, but to get to this stage is such a privilege. The first try was an early set-piece where I went straight through. I never thought that would happen in my life, it did not work that well in training. The second, the cross-field kick off Steve [flyhalf Stephen Jones], every bone in my body told me not to let it bounce. For some reason I did, and it popped up right into my hands. That shows you how lucky my day was. Those two tries are special.
Wales v France, Paris, February 2013
I scored from Dan Biggar’s half cross-field kick, a bit of a lucky bounce and I managed to put it over. We had to go there to win, it was neck and neck with a few minutes left, in that corner. It turned our championship around. We had lost eight games in a row and needed that to get going again.
Wales v Ireland, Cardiff, March 2017
We played after I had had a long old slog of abuse and bad press over my form, and faced Ireland at home in the Six Nations. I scored two tries. I remember before I dotted down the first try … I was getting so much abuse, every game I could not do anything right. I scored on the right wing, through the hands to the corner, carrying two, three people over the line. I have never had so much support from the lads, and the noise in the stadium was huge, but I think my scream was the loudest, the relief. I was shouting: “I can still do it, I promise!”
Wales v Scotland, Cardiff, February 2016
A funny one I quite like watching back was against Scotland in the Six Nations in 2016 at home. We had a right-hand side scrum, and it was three left-foot steps. We ran a training park move, and it worked far better than we ever imagined. I kept sidestepping off my left foot and scored.
Favourite Wales team
North’s first Test, November 2010
15 Lee Byrne; 14 George North, 13 Tom Shanklin,
12 James Hook, 11 Shane Williams; 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Mike Phillips; 1 Paul James, 2 Matthew Rees, 3 Adam Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 6 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Jonathan Thomas.
It is my favourite because I was 18, getting capped for the first time in that autumn series. I was playing with the likes of Gethin Jenkins, Huw Bennett, Ryan Jones, Mike Phillips, Stephen Jones, James Hook, Shane Williams, Lee Byrne – all my heroes I looked up to when I was growing up. A few years later, to be putting the jersey on and taking the field with them was huge. They are some of the best memories, because I was so buzzed about the moment. I do not think my mum could understand me when I rang her up to tell her I was winning my first cap, because of how I was completely awestruck by the people I was playing with and the excitement of playing for my country.
They were all of my favourite players. I kept thinking “This is unbelievable”. That was some back line – Byrne at full-back, Shanks [Tom Shanklin] and James Hook in the centres. And a hell of a pack. I have been to World Cups and those environments are brilliant, it is amazing to represent your country at that level. But when
I was that young, playing at that level with people I had looked up to for years and years, playing in Cardiff at 18 and only just losing to South Africa by four points
… you end up thinking, “How did that happen?”
Favourite Wales Tests
Wales 17-10 Samoa, Hamilton (NZ), Rugby World Cup 2011
One of my favourite games, which was not particularly special for the result, was Samoa in the group stages of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. We had taken a big battering physically when we came in at half-time trailing. In the half-time talk, trying to get things right, we all agreed that we had not fired a shot. They had taken their chances and our mistakes and penalties had let them in.
We had worked far too hard, to go to Poland twice for those pre-world Cup training camps, and had given far too much to come that far and lose. I remember coming out absolutely frothing at the bit to get going. We won, and that message for the squad – we have done too much and come too far to lose now at this stage – and then coming out and absolutely blitzing Samoa, before then putting 60 points on Fiji, that was a real turning point. It was a huge point in my head that sticks with me. I think back to feeling “We’re not done here”. It was a huge squad moment.
‘After I scored on the right wing the noise in the stadium was huge, but I think my scream was the loudest, the relief.
I was shouting:
I can still do it, I promise!’
Wales v England, Cardiff, Six Nations 2013
The 30-3 game is one of my favourites, not because of the result and who we defeated and all the chat in the week about how many points England needed to score. It was the fact that – and I know people might find this surprising – in an international match you are not thinking, ‘Oh my god, I am loving this’ and enjoying it, because you do not have a second to do so. It is next job, focus. It is very rare you get to enjoy the game and the result, until afterwards. That was the one game for Wales where I looked at the clock with five or six minutes to go and thought, ‘This is amazing’. Even if we had the biggest cock-up now, nine injuries or whatever, we could have still held out. To do it at Cardiff – Wales-england games do not need any more pumping up at the best of times, but that one had serious strings attached to it.