Northampton Saints discipline George North for missing training during Six Nations but remains committed to club
Wales wing was left out of the game against Sale two and a half weeks ago
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Your support makes all the difference.George North has been internally disciplined by Northampton Saints for his decision to miss a training session that lead to his absence from a match earlier this month, but the wing will not leave the Premiership side early after it was announced that he will see out the remainder of his contract at Franklin’s Gardens.
North, who has already agreed a national dual contract [NDC] with the Welsh Rugby Union [WRU] to return to Wales in the summer, missed a training session ahead of Northampton’s 34-25 Premiership defeat by Sale Sharks on 3 March, with technical coaching consultant Alan Gaffney confirming afterwards that he only selected a team that “wanted to play” for Saints.
The match took place during the Six Nations fallow week when Wales are duty bound to release their Premiership players, but North evidently was reluctant to play for Saints that weekend as he continued his return from injury for the national side. It’s believed that North had an agreement with former Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder that ensured he was not selected during the off-weeks in the Six Nations, but that was either not known by Gaffney and interim head coach Alan Dickens, or ignored.
A statement issued on Tuesday afternoon confirmed that disciplinary action has been taken against North, but that he will now be considered again for selection for the remainder of the season.
“Following a meeting with the club on Monday, George North accepted responsibility for missing a training session ahead of Saints’ Aviva Premiership clash with Sale Sharks earlier this month, and has been disciplined internally,” the statement read.
“North, who returned to training on Monday, will be available for selection for Saints’ five remaining matches this season, starting with this weekend’s clash against Newcastle Falcons.”
With London Irish edging towards relegation and the top six 15 points ahead of Northampton, the likelihood is that Saints have little to play for in the remainder of the season, having been knocked out of Europe in the Champions Cup pool stage.
North, who played in Wales’ 14-13 victory over France last Saturday, is yet to announce which Welsh province he will move to come the end of the season, but Northampton chief executive Mark Darbon insisted that he had accepted the action taken against him and that he remains “fully committed” to playing for the club until his contract expires.
“George, Alan Gaffney, Alan Dickens and myself had a set of constructive meetings on his return to the club on Monday,” said Darbon.
“George accepts the disciplinary action we have taken. George has enormous affection for this club and its supporters, and is fully committed to helping the club finish the Aviva Premiership season as strongly as possible.
“We now consider this matter resolved and won’t be commenting further.”
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