George North has backed Warren Gatland to revive Wales’s fortunes and believes the current squad has a bright future despite a first winless Six Nations since 2003. North played his 121st and final match for Wales in the defeat against Italy on Saturday before joining the French side Provence next season.
Wales have lost seven consecutive Six Nations matches in Cardiff and won just one of their past 13 championship games. Another disjointed display against the fast-improving Azzurri confirmed the wooden spoon, prompting Gatland to hypothetically offer his resignation to the Welsh Rugby Union.
Two late Welsh tries made the 21-24 final score unrepresentative of Italy’s superiority and the four Six Nations titles, including two grand slams, North helped to win during Gatland’s first tenure are an increasingly distant memory.
“We spoke about it honestly,” North said of Wales’s predicament. “You have to be in these times. We know where we are as a squad. We know the age and the rotation we’re at at the moment. We’ve started that cycle earlier than a lot of other nations.
“We know the standard. The boys know the standard. ‘Gats’ drives that, the coaches drive that, but it’s going to take time for us to get there. I addressed the boys and said: ‘I leave my jersey in safe hands.’ There’s some serious talent coming through, and some real positives and some shining light. We’ve just got to give them time.”
The 31-year-old sustained a suspected achilles tendon injury late in the match on Saturday and will see a specialist on Monday to assess the damage. His Test career spanned more than 13 years and featured 47 tries, including a Welsh record 23 in the Six Nations, as well as two semi-finals and two quarter-finals at four Rugby World Cup tournaments.
In 2013 he played a try-scoring role in the British & Irish Lions series victory in Australia, overseen by Gatland, and was also selected for the 2017 tour to New Zealand. Before his scheduled summer departure across the Channel – Provence are in the French second division and battling for promotion to the Top 14 – North said: “People don’t always get the fairytale ending they want.”
North, who began his career on the wing before switching to centre, added that Gatland resigning in response to a disastrous campaign would be “a cracking headline” but that “it wouldn’t solve much”. Gatland insisted on Saturday that he is committed until the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
“I’ve had a fair few conversations with Gats over the last few months,” North said. “He knows how to get the best out of boys. Especially where we are in terms of form. But like I said, it takes time. The public have been incredible, the support for the boys. What I will say is: ‘Keep believing in us.’ The talent is there, I’ve seen it first-hand.”
Meanwhile Monty Ioane, the wing who scored Italy’s first try at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, has credited the head coach, Gonzalo Quesada, with making straightforward improvements to the Azzurri’s game. “Not too much has changed in this campaign but we’ve worked on our discipline,” Ioane said.
“We used to average 10-11 penalties a game and last week was only five. We want to play and I guess we are just playing in the right areas now as well.
“Last season and at the World Cup we were just trying to play from where we can, or everywhere. We didn’t really have a strategic plan, whereas now we are playing in the right areas, exiting well from our 22, so we are reaping the rewards.”
