'We are not panicking' - George North reassures Welsh faithful following England defeat
George North says there is no panic in the Wales camp following their Rugby World Cup warm-up defeat by England.
Wales' 33-19 reversal at Twickenham on Sunday meant a first loss for Warren Gatland's men since February last year, ending a run of 14 wins.
It also dashed their hopes of replacing New Zealand at No.1 in the World Rugby rankings.
And there was a major setback for them on Monday, when flyhalf Gareth Anscombe, who went off just before halftime, was ruled out of World Cup contention due to a serious knee injury.
Despite the Six Nations champions matching England 3-3 on tries, with wing North among the scorers, George Ford's goal-kicking proved a key difference.
Wales have an immediate opportunity to avenge that result when they host England on Saturday, and North knows it is all about a bigger picture.
"We were a bit rusty and I reckon we left four tries out there," North said.
"But we are not panicking. It is what it is. We have to address that and we have a week to get it right for the next test and we go again.
"You never like losing games, but it has put us in a good place to mentally focus and work out where we need to go.
"This is what these games are for.
"This is what the opportunity is to allow us to play these big games, turn that around and play the weekend after to simulate what is coming up.
"We are still fighting for positions in the squad and every second counts in these weeks and games.
"This is the pointed end of the stick now, when the games come thick and fast."
Following their re-match against England on Sunday, Wales will face Ireland in back-to-back fixtures in Cardiff and Dublin early next month.
Gatland's side will open their World Cup campaign against Georgia in Toyota on September 23.
- With AAP
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I don’t think any coach or selector would ever rely on Blackadder being available for selection. I didn’t think it would be possible but he has easily eclipsed Ennor as they most injured player of all time. IMO a symptom of today’s game where players are required to carry at least 10kg of extra mass from when they first hit the scene in their early 20s. Some players respond well to this, maybe due to genetics allowing them to recover faster, or not having reached their peak natural weight yet, but for others the constant training to maintain their weight eats away at recovery time and they spend most of their careers injured.
Go to commentsThanks for the lesson Nick! I presume that targeting gaps is situational because if a ball carrier straightens the line they can't be allowed a gap to run into? It feels like you need depth if you're going to pass it wide and plenty of variety - straight running, kicks just in behind, cross kicks etc. BTW what an incredible bench Toulouse had this week. People complain about Leinster being stacked but they need to be at the very highest level.
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