LONDON – As Wales ramp up their preparations for an assault on the world’s best rugby nations at the Rugby World Cup next month, winger George North has looked to give his sides’ confidence levels a boost after a somewhat disappointing year to date.
Speaking at an event for Land Rover, North, who is also an ambassador for the company, was upbeat about his country’s chances at rugby’s showcase event. And the 23 year old suggested that their tough regime as well as their confrontational playing style gave them an edge in the so-called ‘Pool of Death’.
“We play a hard game, a physical game and I think going forward we need to bring that but speaking to the coaches in the off-season, and speaking to Warren Gatland, I think we have an edge about us and we’ll play something different in the group stages,” he said.
“We were fortunate enough to beat Australia in the Autumn series, which brings us a lot of belief and a lot of confidence knowing that we can beat these teams. If we come through the hard work together and we’re playing well come that game then on the day we can beat anybody.”
When asked about his own injury, North was quite retrospect despite painting a picture of frustration at missing such a long period of rugby through concussion.
“I’ve been out now for a few weeks with injury but for me, I’m just massively keen to get back into it. It’s frustrating being injured and it’s annoying but it’s one of those things that you can’t rush.”
“Looking now I think it’s basically just staying injury free and trying to stay in one piece because World Cups are hard and they’re designed to break you down then build you up to a better person.”