Wales
George North keen to put concussion nightmares to bed
ESPN Staff
August 25, 2015
George North breaks to score a try for Wales against Italy in the 2015 Six Nations
George North breaks to score a try for Wales against Italy in the 2015 Six Nations© Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Wales international George North says he is over the concussion nightmares he suffered from multiple blows to the head.

The Northampton star suffered three concussions in five months - having been knocked out while playing for both club and country - and has not experienced competitive rugby since March.

He recently returned to training at Wales' World Cup camp and could make his return when Warren Gatland's side travel to Dublin to face Ireland in their penultimate warm-up fixture this weekend.

"I've been out now for a few weeks with injury but for me, I'm just massively keen to get back into it. It's frustrating being injured and it's annoying but it's one of those things that you can't rush," Land Rover ambassador North said.

"Looking at the camps and the dates we've got, it's a lot of hard work but it's something that I'm really excited to get back into and working hard.

"You're not at the World Cup camps for a holiday, you're there for a hard time and they should be hard because they are there to prepare you for one of the hardest competitions in the world.

"Looking now I think it's basically just staying injury free and trying to stay in one piece because World Cups are hard and they're designed to break you down then build you up to a better person."

North suffered two blows to the head during Wales' opening Six Nations defeat to England in Cardiff in February. While the opportunity to gain revenge for that result will come when the two heavyweights clash in their World Cup Pool A fixture at Twickenham on September 26, it will not be the only grudge match on North's mind.

Wales have unfinished business against fellow group opponents Australia, too. The Wallabies enjoyed a 33-28 victory in front of over 55,000 fans at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium last November.

North said: "If you look at our group, there's a few grudge matches there; one I think for us is Australia.

"If you look at their form coming into this World Cup it's not been the best but they're the team that have changed their rules around picking their players from outside of the country and I think that's only going to strengthen their squad.

"When they are on song and they're playing well then they are a team that can destroy anybody. So if we are able to weather that storm early and get that win then that will put us in a great position going forward.

"If you looked at our Wales performance at the last World Cup and the way that we came out of that when we managed to get through to the semi-finals and not necessarily from being the top of our group. The experience we had from there will be massive going forward for us.

"We play a hard game, a physical game and I think going forward we need to bring that but speaking to the coaches in the off-season, and speaking to [head coach] Warren Gatland, I think we have an edge about us and we'll play something different in the group stages."

© ESPN Staff

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