Wales work a flanker to get North in Paris

ON SATURDAY August 23, George North was sent off for a dangerous tackle during Ospreys’ home draw against the Dragons. The following week a PRO14 disciplinary tribunal suspended him for four ‘meaningful’ matches.

That eliminated him from the last match of the old season (Cardiff Blues, away) and the first two of the new one (Edinburgh, away, Ulster, home). The next ‘meaningful’ match would have sent Wales to Paris on October 24 without their superstar Lion.

That, in turn, would have left him seriously short of match fitness for the concluding Six Nations fixture against Scotland at Llanelli seven days later. The list of contenders then shrunk further with Johnny McNicholl bashing his ankle during the Scarlets’ Challenge Cup exit in Toulon on September 19.

Meanwhile Scarlets and Ospreys announced they had arranged a pre-season fixture for September 26. To call it a match, let alone a meaningful one, might have been stretching the point.

The Ospreys described it as a training game, the Scarlets as a chance for ‘both teams to look at the depth of their squads.’ Ospreys head coach Toby Booth referred to it as ‘an opportunity to look at players who haven’t had a chance to play’.

The WRU approached the PRO14 asking them to count it towards North’s four ‘meaningful’ match ban. They argued that the competition for places in the Wales squad gave it some meaning.

Instead of dismissing their case as meaningless, the PRO14 decided the fixture had enough meaning to be included among the ‘meaningful’ quartet to be served by North, thereby freeing him to resume normal service for Wales.

Moral issues aside, the decision sets the game a precedent it could do without.