“Christ. Ten years?” George North exclaims when I remind him that our last interview took place in January 2014. The Wales centre leans forward at his team hotel outside Cardiff and listens closely when I read out the opening line of that old interview which began with a wry quote from his youthful self: “At the ripe old age of 21 I already feel like I’m in the body of a 31-year-old. It’s just been non-stop really. I think if I did stop I would just fall apart.”
North has now won 118 caps, played in four World Cups and is deep in preparations for his 14th Six Nations. We will soon talk about his desire to help Wales’s new captain, Dafydd Jenkins, who is the same age North was 10 years ago, and losing the 22-year-old Louis Rees-Zammit in a shock move to the NFL. North also opens up and confronts those who have expressed their opinions and concern about the concussions that have occurred during his long career. He argues that he goes far beyond normal medical protocols to protect himself.
But, first, he laughs when I ask how he feels now compared to our last conversation. “I feel like I’m 31 in a 21-year-old body,” he says before becoming more serious. “How do I feel 10 years on? I still feel battered, probably, but that’s rugby. Considering that this is a World Cup season – and we have been going eight months already – I’m actually feeling pretty good. I’m certainly still enjoying it, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”
Wales’s home game against Scotland on Saturday will start North’s latest campaign in a tournament in which he first played in 2011. “Don’t say that too loud,” he quips. “Fourteen Six Nations? Flipping heck.”
North made his Test debut, aged 18, when he scored two tries against South Africa in 2010. He was compared to Jonah Lomu then but a more obvious reference point now might be his former captain, Alun Wyn Jones, who racked up 158 caps for Wales.
“Alun Wyn is safe, I promise you,” North says as he considers the fact that, as the country’s third-most capped rugby international, he has played 40 fewer Tests for Wales than Jones. “For me, at this point, it’s not necessarily about numbers. It’s about being the best I can be. We’ve had big changes in our squad and our average age is 24, 25, which I’m really ruining for the boys now. For many years I was the youngest and then I got a little shock when they announced this squad and I thought: ‘Oh bugger, I’m now the old man.’ Luckily, Gareth Davies is a couple of years older than me.”
Welsh rugby is reeling from the sudden departure of Rees-Zammit to the US and the NFL’s international player pathway. Even Wales’s coach, Warren Gatland, appeared stunned. “Was I shocked?” North says, echoing my question. “I’d heard little bits but fair play to him. I’m sure there are rugby fans going: ‘What is he doing?’ But my theory, as a wise old man, is that your career is so short. He’s young enough to give it a couple of years. I hope it goes well for him. If it doesn’t, he can always come back. I messaged him saying: ‘Good luck, give it hell.’ What an awesome opportunity.”
Would North have been tempted by a similar offer when he was 22? “Not many people know there was an opportunity for me. I got approached in 2013 after the Lions tour of Australia.”
North was a sensation during that series, and the first of his two tries saw him carry the ball from his own 10-metre line and leave four Wallabies for dead. “I was asked would I look at League in Australia. I had a couple of conversations but drew a line under it pretty quickly. My biggest goal was to play for my country and not many people from north Wales get that opportunity.”
Was he tempted to switch codes? “When I was sipping a gin and tonic in the Sydney sunshine it did cross my mind. But that was off the high of a series win. For me it’s always been about rugby and Wales. It’s always been about the Three Feathers.”
Welsh rugby is often in crisis so surely the loss of a glittering talent in Rees-Zammit is another grievous blow? “It’s always tough losing young talent. But as one goes, another comes in. Our back line is now very exciting. Rugby moves on quickly.”
Next season North will play for Provence, who currently are in the French second division. The contrasting financial realities of rugby in Wales and France made it a simple decision for North and his wife, Becky James, the former world champion sprint cyclist. “I needed a change and I don’t think there’s been enough reporting on the state of rugby in Wales and the English Premiership [where Worcester, Wasps and London Irish folded]. The decision was based on what’s best for my family. Becky and I spoke about it and said if we have this conversation in 10 years we’d go: ‘God! We should have gone!’ Our two boys are young and it will be a great experience.”
Provence are currently top of Division Two and chasing promotion. “They’re doing bloody well,” North enthuses. “I know Tom Francis and Teimana Harrison and they seem to be in a really good groove there. Provence have a great chance of going up.”
There have, meanwhile, been widespread misgivings among many pundits and fans that North has suffered a worrying amount of concussions throughout his career. As soon as I broach the subject I sense North’s disquiet. When I ask how many concussions he has had he says: “This follows me round but there are players out there who have had a lot more than me. I was probably the first real example where it got highlighted. Even to this day I get mentioned in articles about head collisions. But there are boys still playing who have had more bangs than me but they don’t get mentioned. It’s just the nature of being me, I guess. But the whole way through I went after the best advice and out of my way and my own pocket to find the right people. We set up monitoring to make sure I’m OK, and have done ever since. These things don’t get reported.”
North looks at me intently. “It’s not like I’m not going to look after myself and my wellbeing. That to me is worth more than anything in the world, to be around my family. The one positive of me still getting dragged through it is that the awareness and understanding has changed for the better. It will get better and better with the evolution of medical science.”
North took four blows to the head between November 2014 and March 2015 and he wisely stepped away from rugby for six months. How did he feel during that troubling period? “It was a tough time but a lot was out of my control. We went through everything at the time to protect [himself]. You go outside and above what is recommended. I go further beyond the furthest point to make sure I’m protected. Then you get people who have never met me, who have never seen an ounce of my medical history – they’ve only seen the video that’s been slowed down a hundred times – and they make bold claims and bold headlines that everyone reads and goes: ‘Well, it’s true, you know.’”
In a 2016 interview with Radio Wales, Dr Barry O’Driscoll suggested that North would be told to retire if he was an amateur rugby player. That generated headlines which upset North: “This doctor’s never met me. He doesn’t know anything apart from my name and that video clip. That gets hard and, even when you’re trying to do your big shop for the week, you’re getting people telling you what they think. They’re entitled to their opinion but they don’t have to tell me every time.
“We put everything in place leading into 2015 and I had six months where I didn’t have contact, which put me in a much better place. I did lots of homework about how much the stability and strength of the neck has an effect on concussion. Since then, touch wood, I’ve been fine. Sometimes it takes one person to go through the wringer, to get really highlighted, and unfortunately that fell on my shoulders.”
Yet much has changed since 2015. Many former rugby players have come forward with evidence linking their diagnoses of dementia and other neurological disorders to the head blows absorbed during their careers. “It wasn’t just rugby but the [medical] protocol wasn’t in place then,” North says. “I haven’t got a per cent or even half-a-per cent near those older fellows. The game has evolved massively off the field. This is where I get a bit worked up because you can’t compare my history with someone from 14 or 10 years ago, because it’s different.”
It must still be hard for his family whenever he suffers a big hit on the pitch. “I’ve said to my wife, my mother, my family, that if I get told by a doctor that there’s been a slight dip then I’m gone [from rugby]. There’s no grey area for me. It would be a very easy decision because I go beyond to protect myself. I don’t think that’s public knowledge. People just assume I do the bare minimum. But, regularly, I only take the best advice from the best doctors to make an informed decision.”
Gatland appears to have complete faith in North and the doctors around him. He has even suggested that North could play in the 2027 World Cup. “We’ve had that conversation a couple of times,” North says. “But I’ve done four [World Cups] and know the toll it takes on my body. I obviously started internationally a lot sooner than most and so I take each game as it comes and go from there.”
He will also ensure that he supports Jenkins – his young captain who has only 12 caps. “Some captains are talkers, some are doers. Daf’s a doer. He’s had my support from the start and I said: ‘If you need me to be the grumpy old man that says something from a distance, I’m there. If you need me to be on your shoulder, I’m there.’ But the way he’s gone about his work has been really impressive for me as a senior statesman.”
North relishes the prospect of this Six Nations for a young Welsh squad. “It’s going to be tough but I think we’ve got a great opportunity with three games at home. We’ve gone in as the underdogs and people have written us off already, which is silly. We have a massively changed squad, which is normal after a World Cup, but the boys stepping in now are excited. It’s their first opportunity to put a Welsh jersey on. I was very lucky that I got an opportunity young. You have to take it with both hands.”
