George North Can Win His Wales Spot Back Says Wayne Pivac After ‘Easy’ Decision To Drop Him

By Gareth James

George North has been told by Wayne Pivac there is a route back into the Wales team after the ‘easy’ decision to leave him out against Scotland.

The Ospreys flier was set to reach 100 Test appearances in the Six Nations finale on Saturday having racked up 96 appearances for his country and three for the British Lions.

But North has seen his place taken by Liam Williams after a disappointing display in the friendly defeat to France last weekend.

“Was it a hard decision to leave him out? No it wasn’t,”said head coach Pivac on the decision to drop North, who does not make the match day squad.

George North has put his hand up over disappointing display against France says head coach Wayne Pivac. Pic: John Berry/Getty Images

“Will he have the ability to play his way back in? Yes he will because of what we do in training.”

“It was quite an easy call really. I had a good chat with George the evening before we named the team.

“We had plenty of time to rethink it if we wanted to, but the fact of the matter is George was across it. He was the first to put his hand up and say he wasn’t happy with that performance.

“We were all on the same page in selecting him, but not every selection comes off and on this particular occasion George didn’t play his best game of rugby. It’s as simple as that.

North had little game time before the trip to Paris after his sending off against the Dragons in a PRO14 clash in August.

Wales coach Wayne Pivac says North can force his way back into Wales team on training pitch. Pic: Simon King/Replay Images.

The 28-year-old, who became a Dad during lockdown with wife Becky, was given a four-week ban for a dangerous tackle.

“The timing with the red card was unfortunate for George and you don’t get every selection bang on every single time,” Pivac said.

“The last form he showed for us was against England (in March), and that was the best performance I’ve seen from him for a while.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work with George both on the pitch and on the mental side of the game. He is in a very good space. With his fitness testing he got the opportunity to play last week.

“Some thought he might have had a club game, but we felt he was good to go. It turned out he wasn’t as sharp or focussed as he wanted to be and he freely admits that.

“We’ll do more work with him in the training environment before we put him out next to make sure he’s good and we don’t miss out on anything.”