George North will win his 50th cap Wales cap against Ireland in Dublin tomorrow in his first match for five months after recovering from a series of concussions.
North is part of a Wales team that is close to full strength before Monday’s announcement of the 31 who will be in the World Cup squad and a group that includes the hosts, England, and Australia.
The Wales captain, Sam Warburton, will be absent because of a shoulder injury that is described as minor, while at forward the Exeter prop Tomas Francis wins his first cap, the hooker Ken Owens makes his first international start since June last year, Bradley Davies partners the skipper for the afternoon, Alun Wyn Jones, in the second row and Justin Tipuric, a try scorer against Ireland in Cardiff earlier this month, remains on the open-side.
“George is reaching the 50 landmark but there is still a lot of improvement in him,” said the Wales head coach, Warren Gatland. “We keep putting a lot of pressure on him and he has the ability to play a lot better than he has done in the last 12 months, which he is aware of. He scored three tries against Italy at the end of the Six Nations and that was what we were looking for. Players of his ability have got to get their hands on the ball and his number of touches was better. I remember seeing him as an 18-year-old for the Scarlets and thinking he was a freakish talent we needed to cap as soon as possible. We have yet to see his full potential.”
North suffered four head knocks and three concussions in a five-month spell last season that resulted in him taking an extended break from the game. Saturday will mark his first appearance since he was injured playing for Northampton against Wasps at the end of March.
“He has followed all the medical protocols and we have been conservative in our approach to him,” said Gatland. “You have got to make sure things are right because if he picks up one or two more serious knocks, that could be the end of his career. It’s not about Wales but the individual.”
Gatland will pay particular interest to the performance of Francis, who made his Premiership debut last season, with Samson Lee yet to play after an Achilles tendon operation five months ago. Francis has shed a stone since joining the Wales camp in June.
“We have been really impressed with the way he has developed,” said Gatland, who added that he was undecided whether to name Lee and the wing Liam Williams, who is not match fit after picking up a foot injury, in the 31 for the World Cup. “He is in good shape and he has an opportunity to prove himself at this level.
“Samson did some live scrummaging this week and is not too far away, but Liam picked up a big and was off for four or five days. It is a case of how many players you carry into the World Cup and we have not debated that yet.”
Gatland showed his ruthlessness by dropping three Lions, Mike Phillips, Richard Hibbard and James Hook, from the squad earlier this month. Dan Lydiate, a first choice in the back row since the last World Cup, said no one was assuming they would be smiling on Monday.
“There is not one player who thinks his place is safe,” said the Lions flanker. “We have an opportunity to stake a claim this weekend and that is what all of us in the 23 will be trying to do - then it is a case of biting our nails when selection comes around.”
For Ireland, Paul O’Connell returns to captain his country in his last international on home soil. He will be partnered in the second row by Iain Henderson, while the Connacht tighthead prop Nathan White will make his first start after coming off the bench to make his debut in the 28-22 win over Scotland a fortnight ago.
The coach, Joe Schmidt, reverts to his first-choice half-back pairing of Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton, while Robbie Henshaw partners Luke Fitzgerald in midfield and the wing Dave Kearney will make his first appearance since the 2014 Six Nations title-clinching win over France. Keith Earls, a recent tryscorer against Wales in Cardiff, switches to the wing to enable Fitzgerald to make his first start at centre since November 2008.
Schmidt will name his 31-strong World Cup squad on Monday.
Wales team
L Halfpenny; A Cuthbert, S Williams, J Roberts, G North; D Biggar, R Webb; G Jenkins, K Owens, T Francis, B Davies, AW Jones (capt), D Lydiate, J Tipuric, T Faletau. Replacements S Baldwin, P James, A Jarvis (Ospreys), L Charteris, J King, G Davies, R Priestland, H Amos.
Ireland team
R Kearney; D Kearney, L Fitzgerald, R Henshaw, K Earls; J Sexton, C Murray; J McGrath, R Strauss, N White, I Henderson, P O’Connell (capt), P O’Mahony, J Murphy, J Heaslip. Replacements S Cronin, D Kilcoyne, T Furlong, D Ryan, S O’Brien, E Reddan, P Jackson, F Jones.
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