Wales insist they have not dropped George North even though the 120-cap centre has been left out of the team to play France despite being fit. Both North and Nick Tompkins have been replaced for Sunday’s Six Nations clash in Cardiff, with head coach Warren Gatland opting to pick Joe Roberts and Owen Watkin instead. North and Tompkins have 155 caps between them but assistant coach Mike Forshaw claimed the decision was made in order to assess Roberts and Watkin. “I don’t think they have been dropped,” said Forshaw.

With three rounds of the Six Nations gone and two games remaining, Wales are where they finished last season’s tournament – in fifth place. Yet, despite losing their opening three matches, they could have beaten Scotland and England, they had an excellent spell of pressure against the Irish for 20 minutes.

George North is a rare specimen in the Wales team that will run out at Twickenham in that he knows what it is like to win there. The Ospreys star has seen highs and lows against England in over a dozen years but says his drive and desire is undiminished as he prepares to take up membership of an exclusive club.

Taking his Wales team to Twickenham won’t hold any fears for Warren Gatland. He has nothing but good memories of games at the home of English rugby, having won titles with both club and country at the 82,000-seater venue.

Cameron Winnett reckons Alex Mann is like a big brother and he may need that sibling solidarity when the pair play for Wales against England this weekend. Winnett and Mann were junior school pupils when Wales last beat the old enemy in a Six Nations game at Twickenham.

Warren Gatland insists Wales can go to Twickenham with confidence after he included fit-again George North in a drastically altered Wales team to face England on Saturday. The Wales coach has pulled a familiar play against the old enemy by naming his team 24 hours earlier than stated. North, who missed the defeat to England with a shoulder injury, has been recalled in place of Owen Watkin in the centre as one of seven changes to the team that lost 27-26 to Scotland.

The hope must be that Wales get better the longer this Six Nations goes on, after they and Scotland delivered another titanic classic at the Principality Stadium last Saturday that ultimately ended in a home defeat. It was a compelling 80 minutes of Test match rugby.

Owen Watkin will complete an impressive recovery from World Cup reject to Six Nations starter when Wales tackle Scotland on Saturday. Wales head coach Warren Gatland selected seven centres as part of an expanded training squad in May last year for the World Cup – but Watkin was not among them.

Aaron Wainwright has handed Welsh rugby a major pre-Six Nations boost by agreeing a new contract with the Dragons. The Wales back-row forward, who looks set to line up at number eight in next week’s Six Nations clash against Scotland, has agreed what the Dragons described as “a multi-year” deal.

Wales believe George North is progressing well from a shoulder injury picked up in Ospreys win over the Lions in Johannesburg in the EPCR Challenge Cup last weekend. Skills coach Neil Jenkins is confident the 118-times capped centre will be available for selection for next week’s Guinness Six Nations opener against Scotland at Principality Stadium.

Warren Gatland has paid new Wales captain Dafydd Jenkins a major compliment by saying he expects to see him “in the mould of Alun Wyn Jones”. Jenkins has won many admirers through his captaincy of Exeter Chiefs, with the Gallagher Premiership club in title contention and progressing to the Investec Champions Cup knockout phase.

An injury to George North – and therefore a big scare for Wales – was the price paid by Toby Booth’s Ospreys after they won for the first time on South African soil against one of the ‘big four’ provinces. The Swansea region bagged a home game in the Round of 16 in the EPCR Challenge Cup with a stunning 38-28 win over the Lions in Johannesburg.