Fiji first for Wales in World Cup
WALES will start their 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign against Pool C rivals Fiji in Bordeaux on Sunday, September 10.
Wayne Pivac’s side will be eager to better their performance in Japan in 2019, where they were agonisingly knocked out in the semi-finals at the hands of eventual winners South Africa.
They take on Fiji in the pool stages for the fifth consecutive World Cup, and will also lock horns with Australia, a side they’ve similarly come up against in the pool stages in four of the last five tournaments.
They take on the Wallabies in Lyon on Sunday, September 24, eight days after playing a qualifier winner winner in Nice.
They then end the pool stages in Nantes against a Europe 1 side, which is most likely to be Georgia.
France and New Zealand will kick off the tournament when they face each other at the Stade de France on September 8.
Scotland will play defending champions South Africa in their first match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France on September 10.
England’s opening match of the tournament will be against Argentina on the previous day, September 9.
Ireland’s potentially crucial Pool B meeting with Scotland will take place at the 80,000-seater Stade de France on Saturday, October 7.
England’s and Scotland’s opening games will be played in Marseille’s Stade Velodrome on successive days as part of the organisers’ plan of bringing fans together for ‘doubleheader weekends’ in host cities.
Wales and Ireland will both begin their campaigns in Bordeaux on the same weekend.
Should Wales win their pool, they will face the runner-up in Pool D, which would most likely be Argentina or Japan in Marseille on Saturday, October 14, while a quarter-final clash against England at the same venue the next day is perhaps the most likely outcome if Wales finish their pool in second place.
The two semi-finals will be held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on October 20 and 21, 2023, with the bronze medal match at the same stadium happening on Friday, October 27. Saint-Denis will also host the final on Saturday, October 28. Wales’ 2023 Rugby World Cup schedule in full:
Sunday, September 10 (Bordeaux)
- Wales v Fiji
Saturday, September 16 (Nice) - Wales v Qualifier winner
Sunday, September 24 (Lyon) - Wales v Australia
Saturday, October 7 (Nantes)
- Wales v Europe 1
Quarter final 1 - Saturday, October 14 (Marseille)
Quarter final 3
15 (Marseille)
Semi-final 1
(Saint-Denis)
Semi-final 2
(Saint-Denis)
Bronze final
(Saint-Denis)
Final - Saturday, October 28 (Saint Denis) - Sunday, October - Friday, October 20 - Saturday, October 21 - Friday, October 27
GEORGE North becomes a centurion this weekend. When he strides out into the middle of the Principality Stadium to face England today, he will achieve something that only five men have managed before him.
At the age of just 28 years and 319 days, he will also become the youngest man in history to play rugby for their country 100 times.
It will be a culmination of years of hard work, sacrifice and resilience that has seen the promising young athlete from north Wales become one of the greatest players in a nation’s history.
“To sit here on 99... it’s pretty... I don’t know, it takes my breath away a bit,” North admits to the Western Mail, speaking on behalf of Dove Men+Care.
“You don’t really look at it until you stop and take five minutes and over the last 10 years or so I’ve not had a lot of time to stop.
“But it’s huge for me. When you hit that 100 caps, it’s something that nobody can ever take away from you. That’s something that not many people have the honour and privilege to be able to say.
“I can always put a smile on my face, sit back in the corner of my rugby club when I’m old, wearing a curry-stained tie and say: ‘I did that.’
“Nobody can take that away from me.”
While North is the man who puts in the hard yards, breaks his body, puts it back together again and performs on a Saturday, no athlete – in any sport – can succeed without the support of those around them.
But the family member having the biggest impact on his career at this moment in time is the one yet to utter his first words.
Nine months ago, North and his wife Becky welcomed their first child into the world.
Until baby Jac arrived, the winger admits that rugby was the sole focus in his life and it had been that way for over a decade. But things have changed.
You could list a million and one reasons why an athlete may want to be successful - fame, to preserve their reputation, for financial gain, for adulation and the list goes on.
Suddenly there is one that stands above anything else for North, the fear of letting his son down.
“My dad has said it to me and my mates have also said similar things. When they hand you your firstborn, there is not a feeling like it,” he smiled.
“Playing for your country and representing your family is the biggest thing, the pride and honour that goes with it is second to none. It’s everything.
“It’s another motivation for me now, that I don’t let him down. So when that question does come and he asks: ‘Dad, why did you stop?’ It will be because I was dragged off or I was too broken to keep going, not because I gave in to external pressures and things that were out of my control.”
There is also a realisation that one day, his son will be old enough to realise the scale of North’s achievements.
So what about when that day comes? What are the emotions around the fact that eventually baby Jac will understand just how good his father was?
The question causes the man himself to stare into nothingness for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts.
“Jac has given me a whole new dimension,” he says.
“Without sounding weird, nothing else really matters to me. He’s my beall and end-all at the moment.
“For as long as I can remember, rugby has been my everything.
“We work so hard for the accolades, to win and to be successful in sport. But it’s nice to be able to share that with, not only the squad, but my family members and now my son.
“There is no pressure on him, but whatever Jac decides to do – whether it’s rugby, cycling or no sport at all – it would just be nice to have a conversation with him to show that we all go through tough times to get to the end goal.
“It would be good to be able to show him that you can do anything you put your mind to, to show him that me and his mum were half-decent athletes back in the day!”
And so to Jac’s mum, Becky, who was a hugely successful athlete in her own right. During a 13-year cycling career, she became a double track world champion and Olympic silver medallist.
Having endured the highs and lows of sport, she is better placed than most to understand what it takes to reach the pinnacle of your chosen sport and how it feels when things don’t go the way you had hoped.
You get the sense that Mrs North doesn’t give rousing pre-match team talks, but provides invaluable support in far more nuanced ways.
“Becky knows what it takes more than anyone, probably to a different level than us. We’re a team. We’re fighting for each other, the jersey and there are 15 of us that take the field at any given time,” said North.
“Whereas she was in a team and working hard, but also focusing very much on herself, which is even harder when all the eyes are on you.
“She doesn’t like to come up with words of wisdom. She’s not that kind of support. But she always knows when I need a kick up the backside and also when I need a hug as well.
“I’m a focused individual when it comes to sport but, in the same breath, when I’m off the field I’m a bit of a joker. Becky’s good for that, she knows when I need to have a laugh and joke to take the pressure away after the dayto-day grind of training.
“But when I do need a sit down and a re-focus, she’s there to hold my hand and guide me through that as well.”
Then there is North’s mum and dad, Jan and David, who have been there since the beginning, from driving their promising young son all over the country for training and matches, to following his career around the world.
They too, have played a vital role. “They’ve been huge. It’s the yin and yang,” explains North.
“My dad would always say things like it doesn’t matter what it is, son, it doesn’t matter what the obstacle is, you’ll have your setbacks but you’ll get back up, keep going and with hard work and determination, the world is your oyster – you can achieve anything you want when you set your mind to it.
“Then my mam, bless her heart, would never want to see me get hurt, experience disappointment and the rubbish that comes with professional sport.
“She would say to me: ‘You’ve done enough – you’ve played for your school, country and got a schoolboy cap – now come home, we’ll take care of you!’
“I probably owe my dad four or five cars over the years given the amount of miles we’ve done, up and down from Anglesey to Cardiff. They’ve travelled all over the country and all over the world.
“My mum has never felt stress like it. I don’t think she’s ever watched a full match through panic and not wanting to see me get injured.
“The support of Becky and my parents has been priceless. Without the support from them, I wouldn’t be anywhere near the man or the sportsman that I am today.”
It is not always sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes difficult conversations are needed.
Rugby has never been more explosive and physical than it is at this present moment. Contact injuries are inevitable and the sport is constantly having to think about how it can mitigate the risk of concussion.
North himself has suffered head injuries in the past but it is not a taboo subject for him. He has had conversations with loved ones about injuries and the risks associated with the sport but insists he has total confidence in his own health every time he takes to the field.
“Working in this environment, I’m very much the kind of person that will talk about it. When you’re in this pressure pot, openness and honesty is the best policy,” he said.
“It’s the same with mental health. I do a lot of work with Movember. Part of that, for me, is being able to speak about the rubbish times, the times that are uncertain, the times when you question why, when you look around and everyone is held together by tape.
“That’s where Becky has been amazing in helping me balance what is real life and what is sports life. When that day comes and I have to step away from rugby, there is another life out there, apparently!”
He added: “Knowing the experience and the quality of our medical staff, not just Prav [Mathema, head of medical] and the guys, but the [external] people that we deal with. We have different doctors for different joints, these people are the best of the best.
“We’re very lucky to have that. These conversations are ones that I’d rather have with them than anyone else so that, when it comes to take the field on a Saturday, if they say to me: ‘G, you’re good’ Then I know that I can cross that whitewash and go full fat milk without a second thought.”
North endured a tough autumn last year. He went into the campaign with just 15 minutes of rugby under his belt over the previous eight months and, perhaps understandably, his form dipped.
But he has been resurgent in recent months, showing some of his best form for the Ospreys and transferring that to the Test arena with a superb performance against Ireland at the start of the 2021 Six Nations.
He has stripped everything back in his game, simplified things, and that spells trouble for opposition defences.
“Between lockdown, Jac and the changing of the guard at the Ospreys with Toby [Booth] and the crew coming in, it’s been a real good opportunity for me to look at myself, look at when I was at my best and how I get back to that,” he said.
“People ask me big questions about what I’ve done and what I’ve changed but nothing’s really changed.
“It’s more about looking at what is in my control. People were telling me I was rubbish because I wasn’t working hard and I wasn’t getting any ball. But the numbers stacked up. I was running like a mad man trying to get my hands on the ball but it just didn’t come to me.
“How can I control how many carries I have or the effect on the carry if I don’t have the ball?
“It’s just trying to be very real with my goals and understanding each game is different.”
North’s critics often push the idea that there has been a drop in the level of his performances in the second half of his international career after bursting on to the scene as a teenager.
But the numbers don’t fit the narrative. In his first 50 caps, North scored 22 tries and he’s scored 20 in his last 49 appearances in the red jersey.
The 42-try total puts him second on the all-time list of Wales’ try-scorers. He currently trails the great Shane Williams by 16 scores and he’s got his sights set on his old team-mate’s record.
Laughing, he added: “One thing I’d like to say on that is that defences weren’t as good back when Shane was playing!
“Shane is one of my heroes. As a young Welshman at that time, watching him on the ball and off the ball, the energy, is something that is very much in my mind,”
Despite all he has achieved in the game - and we’ve no time to cover his two Lions tours - you get the sense that more is still to come.
At the age of 28, North appears as motivated as ever to push for further honours. He is content, not as a rugby player but as a human being, a husband and a father. And it’s showing in his performances on the field.
Will he catch Shane? You’d be a fool to bet against it.
It’s the Six Nations game like no other... even if Covid has adds an unpleasant twist to this year’s edition.
MARK ORDERS assesses how the two teams compare...
Liam Williams 7 v 7 Elliot Daly
TWO broken-field adventurers here.
Williams can sometimes appear as if he’s having a Sunday morning chuckaround with his mates down the local park, but don’t be deceived, with the Scarlet having pace, an eye for a gap and the ability to drill holes in an opposition defence.
He is also a fearless defender. Another plus is that he responds well to adversity: if his team are in a tight corner, he’s the first to come out swinging a metaphorical chair above his head.
That said, and despite an encouraging effort against Scotland, he’s still working his way towards peak form after spending much time sidelined before the Six Nations.
Daly hasn’t been quite at his best, either, but he’s quick enough to punish Wales if they kick loosely.
Louis Rees-Zammit 8 v 8 Johnny May
TWO of rugby’s fastest players here. Each can make defensive errors. But in attack they can score from anywhere. Their head-to-head has been built up largely around who is the quickest, but it is so much more. Rees-Zammit has shown he has footballing skills as well as vision and awareness, while May has vast experience and a try record that’s seen him score against all England’s main rivals.
The challenge for the wings will be to stay alert.
Blink and either of them could be exposed.
George North 8 v 7 Henry Slade
NORTH’S resurgence has been once of the pluses of the season for Wales. They now have a rapid and powerful outside centre who’s scoring tries, playing with confidence and working hard. If he’s not careful, he may yet play himself into contention for a Lions tour place this summer. Slade is a classy performer.
Not only does he have pace and passing ability, he can also break defences. Wales will need to watch him closely.
Jonathan Davies 7 v 7 Owen Farrell DAVIES has been hit by a lack of rugby brought on by injuries, while his opposite number has been Owen Farrell in name only.
Hence the England captain is down at least one mark, given his current performance levels.
Each are capable of banging in big performances in the right mood, however. Wales want Davies to add to their kicking options and he has the experience to feel he’ll do a job.
Farrell is the better kicker and a fierce competitor but his tackling technique is suspect and he isn’t the most creative. He won’t offer anything Davies hasn’t seen before. Josh Adams 7 v 8 Anthony Watson WHAT a game for Adams to come back in after his suspension for breaching Covid regulations.
As with Davies, his A game hasn’t been noticeably to the fore for Wales in recent times. He’s failed to score in his last seven Tests and he’ll be desperate to put that right. If he does click the strong-running Cardiff Blue is a handful to contain.
Watson was the real English man of the match against Italy.
With his pace and quick feet, he caused the Azzurri big problems and will do the same to Wales if they give him space.
Dan Biggar 7 v 7 George Ford
BIGGAR found himself subbed after just 49 minutes last time out, but he’s a resilient sort who can put setbacks behind him. What he needs to do is bring his club form for Northampton to the international table.
When he’s playing with confidence and has his eye in as a goal-kicker, he can be a match-winner.
Ford is a clever player who can run a game with the right platform.
Mind, sending Jonathan Davies thundering down his channel wouldn’t be the worst idea for Wales. Kieran Hardy 6 v 7 Ben Youngs HARDY gets a fairly modest mark because he’s shown little at Test level yet. True, there were a couple of nice box kicks against Scotland and an accurate pass to Willis Halaholo in the build-up to Liam Williams’ try, but we need to see more.
His priority will be to stay on top of the basics because game-control for a scrum-half should come first. But if the opportunity comes along it would be nice to see him use his pace because he can move from 0 to 60 quicker than some wide players.
Behind a dominant pack the experienced Youngs can call the shots impressively. At others times he can fail to impose himself.
Wyn Jones 8 v 8 Kyle Sinckler
THERE’S a fascinating duel in prospect here.
When the stars align, Sinckler can be an outstanding prop, one who can not only scrummage and carry but also bang in 20 tackles a game.
He imploded in Cardiff two years ago, though, allowing an outstanding performance to degenerate into a temperamental mess which saw him taken off before he was sent off.
Many will feel he could have the edge against Jones, but the Welshman has been in career-best form in this campaign. His 18 carries have yielded 84 metres and he’s made 22 tackles and achieved a couple of turnovers, while his scrum basics have also been good.
How he performs in the set-pieces will be crucial to the outcome of this one.
Ken Owens 7 v 7 Jamie George
A SCORE draw at hooker.
George found himself dropped for the Italy match after a less-thaninspiring effort against Scotland. He’s a force when on his game, mind.
Lineout gremlins spoiled an otherwise excellent show from Owens against Ireland, but he sorted those out at Murrayfield. While he’s still returning to his very best after recovering from injury, he’s an emotional touchstone for Wales, a player who doesn’t often come up short if the challenge is to seize the day.
He needs to find his targets with his lineout darts.
Tomas Francis 7 v 8 Mako Vunipola
ANOTHER key match-up, seeing the unsung Francis face one of the stars of the English pack.
Vunipola can be an extraordinary player, a prop who has banged in 27 tackles in a single match before now and not at the expense of his carrying and work in the scrums. But, by his standards, he didn’t play the house down against Italy.
Without too many broadcasting it, Francis has been quietly effective in this tournament, anchoring the Welsh scrum and working tirelessly in defence.
If he can beat off Vunipola’s scrum attacks, it’ll be a major plus for Wales.
Adam Beard 7 v 9 Maro Itoje
IF there’s a feeling that Itoje has yet to engage full throttle in this tournament so far, he’s still a player pretty much any side in the world would like to have in their ranks with his ability to combine the solidity of a second row with the mobility and athleticism of a flanker.
He may not be England’s captain, but he’s their leader, the player others look to in times of crisis.
This will be a good yardstick for Beard to measure himself by, then.
He’s one of the most improved players in Welsh rugby and is coming off a big game against Scotland. Wales can’t afford him to be subdued this weekend. They need him to contest everything against Itoje. Alun Wyn Jones 8 v 7 Johnny Hill IT’S a thing of wonder how Jones keeps banging in big performances at the age of 35.
England targeted him at Twickenham last year, recognising his importance to Wales, but he’s a player who responds to a challenge and he has the ability to impose himself. When he plays well, his team tend to follow his lead. Hill is being touted as a potential Lion this summer, possessing an edge and a good work ethic.
Josh Navidi 8 v 7 Mark Wilson HOW do you stop Billy Vunipola?
It’s a question not many would be able to answer.
Navidi can, though, because he’s managed the feat in the past. Wales will need Big Billy to be blotted out of the game. Scotland managed it at Twickenham and Navidi is likely to lead the effort in that respect this weekend. It’s one of a thousand and one jobs the Cardiff Blue can be expected to wade through on the day.
Wilson is the hard man of the England pack. He will never take a step back.
Justin Tipuric 9 v 8 Tom Curry
FORM sways this one to Wales.
Curry is a player who’ll tour South Africa with the Lions if the trip goes ahead, but Tipuric has been performing at a level apart.
He never runs out of gas, offers himself in attack and will be there at the end, putting in the tackles and doing all he can to move Wales closer to victory.
When he’s on his feet in the defensive line, there’s always a hope that Wales will keep the opposition at bay. When he’s not, there’s usually trouble.
Taulupe Faletau 9 v 7 Billy Vunipola
WHERE’S Mr Motivator when you need him most?
It’s a question for England after their ball-carrying talisman called himself a “coward” and said he’d been playing “rubbish” in this Six Nations.
The assumption is Vunipola will come good again at some stage.
He doesn’t have the all-round game of Faletau, though.
Magical, Ugo Monye called the Wales No.8 in TV commentary last week. It’s not far from the truth.
In his recent outings, Faletau has raised the bar in pretty much every respect.