I’LL SHOULDER LIONS BURDEN
Pressure is on but George North vows...
GEORGE NORTH was just 13 when the British and Irish Lions last set foot on Kiwi soil.
Sitting in front of the TV at his family home in Anglesey, he marvelled as Gareth ‘Alfie’ Thomas scythed through the All Blacks defence in the opening minute of the second Test in Wellington.
That was as good as it got for Sir Clive Woodward’s class of 2005. That Thomas try was merely a parting shot as the tourists were whitewashed 3-0. But more than 11,000 miles away in a small village in North Wales, North dreamt of pulling on that red jersey and facing the men in black.
Now the Wales winger is ready to make his own history.
It has certainly not been plain sailing for North this season, but he has overcome head and hamstring injuries, criticism from the Welsh public and his defensive coach Shaun Edwards to earn a plane ticket to Auckland.
‘You want to be the best you can be in every game and unfortunately you can’t, that’s the annoying thing,’ North told Sportsmail.
‘You know the fishbowl effect in Wales, rugby is everything and a lot of pressure comes on.
‘People say you don’t become a bad player overnight but sometimes, with the amount of stuff bouncing around the place, you start to question it.’
There has been a quiet resurgence in North’s form in recent months. There have been glimpses of the 21-year-old force of nature who terrorised Australia across three weekends with the Lions in the summer of 2013.
North ( below) was the freakish winger who danced through would-be Wallaby tacklers in Brisbane before that iconic moment in Melbourne when he carried Israel Folau on his back like a bag of sand.
Now 25, his concussion issues are well- documented but those days are behind him — ‘touch wood’ as he says several times during this interview. Now he can get back to doing what he does best, terrorising defences.
‘It’s amazing how quickly it comes and quickly it goes, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘It’s a hot topic in rugby and it needs be brought to the forefront but it’s nice to have a conversation where no one says to me “how’s your head?”’ The challenges facing the Lions are huge. They have not won a Test in New Zealand since 1993. You must go back to 1971 for the last series win against the All Blacks. The stats become more daunting the more you dig. Warren Gatland’s side face New Zealand twice at Eden Park in Auckland. Their last loss at the fortress? 1994. Sam Warburton will lead the squad on the most daunting of assignments but North feels that he is the right man for the job, despite his worrying knee injury. ‘ What’s that they say, quality is permanent, form is temporary?’, offered North. ‘Sam is an incredible athlete and player but has a habit of picking up injuries.
‘It’s unfortunate because if you look at his Six Nations, he was tremendous for Wales.
‘He came back for Cardiff and was tearing it up for them and then he did his knee against Ulster. Thank the Lord, that it’s not too long for him… we hope it’s just five or six weeks.
‘He’s the kind that bounces back — a positive person. You can’t afford to get too down all the time. I think Warby will be all right.’
The ultra-reliable Dan Biggar has forced his way past George Ford and Finn Russell in the Lions pecking order.
Biggar is not regarded as the same attacking force as the England and Scotland No 10s but he has often been described as a Test match animal. North smiles when he hears that description of the Welsh fly-half.
‘His kicking game out of hand is amazing,’ said North. ‘He puts you in the right places.
‘When you want to attack, he flattens up and understands the way we want to play and he knows everyone’s roles. More importantly, everyone buys into what he says or when he shouts something.
‘Everyone listens because if he is shouting that means there’s something on.’
WITH Biggar, Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton in the squad, the decibel levels at training are set to go through the roof in the training paddock in New Zealand. All three are known to give team-mates the hairdryer treatment when standards slip.
‘I remember Sexton from last time. He never spoke to me, he just shouted all time,’ North recalled. ‘Even when we went out for dinner, he just shouted at me!’
Facing the haka is one of the many unique challenges that the All Blacks present. There have been some high-profile responses to the Maori ceremonial war dance, including an unforgettable event before a Test at the Millennium Stadium in 2008. In a moment of pure theatre, then Wales captain Ryan Jones and his team-mates stared down the All Blacks in a spine-tingling two minute standoff following an electric rendition of the haka.
Who knows what Gatland has in store to combat the Kiwis’ prematch challenge this time round?
‘ It’s hard enough to try to prepare for New Zealand at the best of times really,’ added the Northampton wing.
‘I wasn’t involved but I remember that stand- off in 2008 in Cardiff. I remember watching it at home. It was brilliant. It was better than watching East-Enders or Coronation Street, wasn’t it?
‘If you take it for what it is, it’s a war chant. It’s a challenge and the fact Wales just stood there was quite brilliant, really.
‘It’s a hell of a thing and if you haven’t faced it before, it’s a hell of an experience.’
No doubt North will be there facing down the haka before the first Test on June 24. Touch wood.
George North is an ambassador for Gillette, an official sponsor of the Lions tour.