Wales’s secret weapon, young winger George North, is nearly two metres tall and weighs in at well over 100kg. His sensational form for the Scarlets in the Welsh league, where he’s been bulldozing the opposition into oblivion on a regular basis, has drawn comparisons with the All Black legend Lomu. Sport24 reports
Like Lomu, North is making his international debut well before reaching his 20th birthday.
North is expected to line up on the right wing, where he will be marked by Bryan Habana, who some critics still feel is vulnerable defensively, and who could be exposed by North’s size, weight, power and pace.
While he has just 5 months of senior rugby under his belt, Welsh coach Warren Gatland is said to have been impressed by the way the 18-year-old has come through in Welsh training sessions.
Sport.stv quoted Gatland: “We know this is a bold selection but we have always tried to look at the bigger picture and George (North), today, is the bigger picture and at 6ft 4 inches and 16 stone 7lbs he gives us quite a canvass to work with.”
North told the Scarlets website: “It’s amazing – such an honour (to be selected) and I was really surprised. My parents were over the moon for me. I thought it was someone playing a prank at first, I just couldn’t believe it when I got the text, so I got my agent to phone up and check it was for real!”
Beware the Boks, who could ever forget those images of Lomu destroying the opposition at the 1995 Rugby World Cup?
Additional reporting by Gavin Rich – SuperSport
2 Comments
Lomu never scored against the Boks….Ever….!
Remember all the pressure James Small was put under during the ’95 World Cup? Everyone was saying it would be hard to defend against Lomu…and what happened when he was put to the Test?? David slayed Goliath! 🙂 Full faith in Habana!
GOOOOO BOKKE!!!!!!