Wales vs Australia: George North reaping rewards of move back home as he takes his game to new levels
Wales head into Saturday’s autumn international in the familiar position of being narrow favourites despite a 10-year winless run, but with North back to his best, Warren Gatland may finally end his Australia hoodoo
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Optimism, anticipation and expectation again abound in Wales ahead of Saturday’s visit of Australia as Warren Gatland’s team look to finally end their Wallaby hoodoo and make it 14th time lucky against the men in green and gold.
It is a decade since Wales last beat Australia. And just as on so many occasions before, there is a sense this could finally be Wales’ day.
Michael Cheika’s men, ranked sixth in the world following another unconvincing year, remain a work in progress while Australia’s coach remains under seemingly constant pressure.
Wales by contrast are unbeaten in six games, lie third in the world rankings, and in George North and Jonathan Davies have two world-class performers fit, firing and once again on top of their respective games.
Gatland last week played down the significance of Saturday’s clash with an Australian outfit his team face again in next year’s World Cup pool stages, insisting the difference between them has been negligible in recent years, despite Wales’ failure to register a solitary victory in 13 matches.
Former captain Sam Warburton, who came so near on so many occasions but never beat Australia during his time as Wales captain, took a slightly different view, saying now is the perfect time for Wales to finally get the monkey off their backs.
Gatland has tinkered with the side which beat Scotland convincingly, if unspectacularly, in their opening Under Armour Series encounter with Josh Adams replacing Luke Morgan on the wing, Thomas Francis replacing Dillon Lewis in the front row and Adam Beard starting at lock ahead of Cory Hill.
With a bench boasting 180 caps of experience, including English-based duo Dan Biggar and Liam Williams, who return to the squad after being unavailable against Scotland, Gatland is hoping the depth of his squad will pay dividends late in the game.
In North, Wales have a winger who looks back to his razor-sharp best against Scotland, scoring a brilliant individual try, becoming his country’s third highest try scorer in the process, and is flourishing at the Ospreys after a turbulent final season at Northampton.
Clearly benefiting from an extended eight-week rest last summer, his longest non-injury enforced rest by more than a month since he turned professional aged 18, he is being carefully managed on a National Dual Contract which limits him to 16 domestic games this season.
“I’ve had a fair few well-documented injuries over the years and it was about how do I get the best out of me,” said North, who is a Land Rover ambassador.
“Times were changing at Northampton with a lot of ‘what ifs and maybes’ but you can’t base decisions on ‘what ifs and maybes’. You have to make decisions based on the information you have.
“For me, it’s early days but it’s been amazing so far what you can achieve by being carefully managed.”
With centre Davies also looking fit and hungry against Scotland, after a horrible 12 months since breaking his ankle in the corresponding fixture last year, Australia will have their hands full as they look to improve on their last outing against New Zealand, when they were comprehensively beaten.
Gatland’s strength and conditioning team have been intentionally overloading Wales’ players in training at the start of their World Cup countdown but North is confident he is now contributing more than ever courtesy of a tailored fitness programme run in conjunction with the Ospreys.
“A word that’s always bandied around is repeatability,” he said. “You might be able to influence a game for one or two minutes but what about the other 78? It’s something I’ve been working on with the Ospreys but it’s tough. Trying to get big movements over and over again.
“With the year we have coming up we need to be overloaded at this point. It’s brutal but it’s working. I constantly work on trying to be as powerful and as dynamic and quick as possible. The more times I can repeat it the worse it is for the opposition and the better for us. But it’s hard work.”
North can expect more hard work under the Principality Stadium roof on Saturday. His opposite number Israel Folau will be Australia’s principle attacking threat with memories of the pair’s epic battles during the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour still fresh in the memory for some.
Gareth Anscombe has rightly been given the chance to consolidate his position as Wales first-choice No10 after impressing against Scotland and his head-to-head with Australian playmaker Bernard Foley will be key.
Foley remains an enigma. Brilliant some days, distinctly average on others.
Wales have a host of back-row injuries but in Justin Tipuric, Ross Moriarty and Dan Lydiate still have a back-row capable of mixing with Australia’s breakdown masters David Pocock and Michael Hooper in what promises to be a fascinating contest.
Wales start as narrow favourites but history suggests Australia will win. We’ve been here before, haven’t we?
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