{"id":116777,"date":"2025-09-05T17:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/116777\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T17:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:01:09","slug":"its-incredible-given-size-of-wales-what-we-achieved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/116777\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s incredible, given size of Wales, what we achieved"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Warburton was supposed to conduct this interview with his former Wales and British & Irish Lions colleague, George North, but a family illness meant yours truly was asked to stand in at late notice. \u201cYeah, Sam just messaged me to say he couldn\u2019t be bothered to do the interview,\u201d says North with a laugh to break the ice.<\/p>\n

And he is joking because they are the closest of pals \u2014 \u201cOne of the best friends I have made through rugby,\u201d Warburton wrote in The Times when North retired from international rugby last year.<\/p>\n

In that wonderful Wales squad that won so much \u2014 North was involved in two grand slams, four Six Nations titles and reaching two World Cup semi-finals \u2014 there was a gang of four that always stuck together: North, Warburton, Dan Lydiate and Scott Williams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Sam hangs on to me, Scott and Dan,\u201d North says. \u201cThe four of us are still very close now. I speak to them all very regularly; Sam is a nightmare because you ring him, he doesn\u2019t answer and then he rings you back at a stupid time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"England<\/p>\n

North, far right, celebrates a triple crown at Twickenham in 2012 on Wales\u2019 way to an 11th grand slam with, from left: Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams, Phillips and Cuthbert<\/p>\n

DAVID ROGERS\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

This is classic North: playful, jocular and engaging, but this was not always the North we saw in public during his stellar 121-cap career for Wales (plus three for the Lions). He had some tough times, notably during his battles with concussion but also with social media as it became more influential and rabid. North, that most physically gifted of wings who scored two tries on his debut against South Africa aged 18, retreated within himself a little.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you speak to the players I went shoulder to shoulder with day to day, I hope they describe me as happy-go-lucky, positive in everything I do, that I work myself to the bone, but I\u2019m doing it with a smile on my face,\u201d he says. \u201cI would hope they say I was the consistent joker, smiler and energiser.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a person, I think I lost a bit in that era where poor Cuthie [Alex Cuthbert] and [Rhys] Priestland just got cut to shreds [on social media] and out of self-preservation I think I closed the book a bit, as you do because you\u2019re trying to support your friends but you\u2019re very aware that you don\u2019t want those shots to be fired at you either.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"George<\/p>\n

North has embraced life with Provence, in the second tier of French rugby, having called time on his international career<\/p>\n

WILLIAM CANNARELLA \/ ACTION PLUS FOR TIMES SPORT<\/p>\n

But towards the end of his career, North was back to his usual absorbing best. He is in top form in his autobiography, No Other Place, which was written with the journalist and podcaster Tom Fordyce and is to be published next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honest slice of me, pretty much,\u201d he says of the book. \u201cI didn\u2019t want it to be a slagging match. I wanted it to be a deep dive into my own sacrifices and what I had to do, and also some of the decisions I made along the way that didn\u2019t make sense to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

So how did he find that often cathartic task of writing a book? \u201cI didn\u2019t want to do it initially,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the more I thought about it, the more it felt like the right time. It\u2019s quite a surreal process. You kind of forget what you achieved sometimes, don\u2019t you? <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re in it and you\u2019re amongst it, you don\u2019t really think about it. So it was nice to take a step away. It was actually like, \u2018Wow! I was very fortunate to come through with an amazing group of guys, coaches and staff at the time,\u2019 and the experiences and the knowledge I picked up off them was incredible. And I guess now at the ripe old age of 33 I really can fully appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It truly was a golden generation for Wales, but, interestingly, at the end of his tome, North, while emphasising that he is not usually one for regrets, does confess that he wishes he had enjoyed it all a little more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got caught between two eras of rugby,\u201d he says. \u201cI missed the end of the old school, with characters like Mike Phillips and Andy Powell. But I didn\u2019t quite hit the full-on academy era. There was a group of young guys like Sam, Lyds, Scott Williams, Toby [Faletau] and Lloyd Williams, we kind of ended up in that weird sort of middle ground between old-school rugby and new professionalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that mixture, I was never really allowed to get above my station with the old school. But then I also was very conscious that, with this new level of professionalism and this new era of rugby, it wasn\u2019t about necessarily celebrating, it\u2019s about the next job. Can you recover? Can you focus? Can you prepare as best you can for the next game or the next training day? With that cocktail of the two eras, I kind of missed the opportunity to really celebrate certain parts of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RWC<\/p>\n

North finds himself in the wars during the 2011 World Cup bronze final against Australia, which his side lost narrowly<\/p>\n

SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL<\/p>\n

But it was a damned good Wales side. \u201cI think you could argue we were probably one of the most dominant forces in world rugby between 2011 and 2015,\u201d he says. \u201cWe had a small blip but between about 2018 and 2020, you could argue that we were still very dominant. It\u2019s incredible, considering the size of Wales, what we did.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you consider how the regions were performing, whenever it came to the internationals we seemed to get it right and click and punch well above our weight. I was very fortunate that I was in that from a young age and I managed to keep myself injury-free for a lot of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which brings us on to the topic of concussion, something I know North has always been reluctant to talk about but has bravely tackled in the book, particularly the period when he took four blows to the head between November 2014 and March 2015 and then stepped away from rugby for six months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided to confront it and put out my opinion in black and white on concussion because over the years whatever anyone said or was writing, it was out of my control,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a tough part of my life and it really affected me and my mental health. It was just a horrible time.<\/p>\n

\"Injured<\/p>\n

North suffers one of the concussions that had become a recurrent theme during his career while playing for former club Northampton in March 2015<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time anyone in the world got concussed in rugby, it\u2019d be my name getting dragged through it \u2014 and it was just brutal. It went from the extreme of doctors writing about it that I\u2019ve never met before and never examined me, right through to going shopping in Tesco and you\u2019ve got people telling me what I should do. It got full on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the guinea pig unfortunately. I\u2019m happy to carry some of that burden because obviously it\u2019s got the game in a lot safer place and the awareness and understanding is growing day by day. But also that cross [to bear] sometimes is hard to control because it\u2019s like everyone tarnishes me with it. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I wanted to address it because I wanted to show people that there was more to it than just what other people were saying. I wanted to give my opinion on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted it to be quite short and direct because that\u2019s how I dealt with it. I dealt with it with pure information with the best doctors. I spoke to them regularly, I still speak to them regularly, and I want them to tell me as straightforward as yes or no \u2014 is there any issue that you can see currently? Any degenerative issues yes or no? <\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as there\u2019s a pause where he doesn\u2019t give a yes or a no, or he\u2019s trying to think about how to soften the blow, then that\u2019s the day I walk away. It was important that I addressed it and I think if I didn\u2019t address it then there\u2019d be more questions asked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life is good for North and his family out in France, where he is playing in Pro D2 for Provence. \u201cIt\u2019s hot! As a North Walian it\u2019s flippin\u2019 hot!\u201d he says. \u201cNo, it\u2019s brilliant. I arrived here with my achilles injury [suffered in his final game for Wales, against Italy last year] so it took me a while to understand how I fit in the system, what their system is and what their understanding of rugby is, but I feel like towards the end of last season I was getting back to a little bit of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were some headlines recently about North saying that the Pro D2 clubs in the French second tier would be competitive against the Welsh regions, but as North says: \u201cThere may have been a little bit of a translation issue there. What I was trying to say was that in blocks where Provence are playing our best rugby there\u2019ll be spells where we could compete for sure, not just with the regions, but I also said with some of the UK teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopefully nothing has been lost in translation here, and maybe Warburton dodged a bullet, given a broadcast interview he once did with his great mate that did not go quite as he hoped gets a mention in the book. \u201cWhen he did that he was box-fresh into his new role,\u201d North says. \u201cHe texted me saying I look forward to catching up later and I just replied saying \u2018no comment\u2019. And then I think he started off with some howling cheesy line and to be fair I prepared it anyway, so that whatever came out of his mouth the first question was always going to be shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a tough school that Wales team, with some tough coaches in Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley. As North says at the end of his book: \u201cWe were the ones, thanks to Gats and Shaun and Howlers, with a bit of a bastard in us for ever more.\u201d<\/p>\n

No Other Place by George North with Tom Fordyce and published by Harper Collins is available on Thursday ,September 11 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Warburton was supposed to conduct this interview with his former Wales and British & Irish Lions colleague,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-116777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}