British and Irish Lions: George North’s decline between tours is evidence of rugby’s dereliction of duty as starting berth comes under threat

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  • North's Lions spot is uncertain.

    George North produced two of the most iconic moments of the 2013 British & Irish Lions tour. Into the second quarter of the first Test, with the Lions still finding their feet, North used his to bewitching pace to beat four Australian bodies and score one of the tourists’ greatest-ever tries.

    Then, in game two, North somehow slung Israel Folau – the Wallabies’ chief antagonist – over one shoulder while holding the ball in the crook of his other arm. It was incredible, a carry and ruck all in one.

    At just 21 years of age, we were witnessing the type of feats from North that no-one, not even Jonah Lomu, could have shrugged at. A Lion for the ages.

    Huge honour to put the lions jersey on again! Great result to push us on. 👊🏼

    A post shared by George North (@george_north) on

    But for all outward appearances, his body is not hewn from granite and thick-skulled decisions by the powers-that-be over the last four years have only precipitated his decline.

    Fine player though he still is, that the Welshman is not a surefire starter for the Lions’ first Test on Saturday should be taken as a red alert.

    North was back in competitive action just two months after returning as a hero in 2013 for Northampton who, having just signed him for £200,000 (Dh930,000), were keen to show off their new shiny toy. Adding 11 Tests of even greater intensity over the course of that season and in the next 10 months, he played a bonecrunching 34 times.

    In 2015 he went on to hit his 50th Test cap a month shy of his 23rd birthday – and the occasion was still portrayed as a celebration of his freakishness. The second-most capped player by that age is Jonny Wilkinson on 34, and we all know what happened to him.

    Indeed, North’s savagery for those 2013 Lions may be remembered for bittersweet reasons just like Wilkinson’s World Cup winning drop goal in 2003.

    Subsequently, Wilkinson collected injuries like they were going out of fashion and his mastery with Toulon at the twilight of his career aside, he never reached those heights again. A generational talent came under pressure for his England place by players such as Toby Flood while still in his late 20s.

    As for North, just before reaching his 50-cap landmark, he took a five-month enforced break due to a string of concussions, scarily suffering from speech problems.

    The 25-year-old has soldiered on, for the most part, but have any lessons been learned? Draw your own conclusions, after he found himself in the centre of the storm which made a mockery of the nascent Head Injury Assessment laws.

    Last December, TV replays showed the wing had been knocked out in a clash with Leicester yet he outrageously returned to the field and saw out the contest. Northampton were given a slap on the wrist, nothing more.

    North, of course, will have been cleared on medical grounds for this tour, but just how much punishment can his brain, the most fragile of organs, take, together with the attrition of his entire body?

    Other 2013 Lions have suffered far worse. Prop Alex Corbisiero, a late call-up who pulverised Australia in the series-winning third Test, played just 24 more club games for Northampton before announcing a year-long sabbatical from rugby last summer. Of yet he has made no plans to return.

    A few miles down the road from Northampton, in Leicester, Tom Croft is still plugging away but only after spending almost three years on a physiotherapist’s bench battling knee injuries. Having enjoyed a renaissance of sorts in 2015/16, he made just three Premiership appearances last year.

    Another flanker, Sean O’Brien, has patched up his body from recurring shoulder and hamstring injuries to emerge as a tour standout yet again. You wonder, however, if the 30-year-old has shaved years off his career for one last blowout in New Zealand.

    The new global schedule, starting in 2020, is designed to incorporate more breaks for players – yet it’s essentially an 11-month season, and Test players would only have five weeks of rest before their domestic duties start again.

    Players are restricted to 32 games a campaign, and the Lions will play just eight times starting from the 2021 tour, but how can that be seen as going far enough when the NFL – another brutal contact sport – has an injury epidemic while playing a maximum of 20 competitive matches a year?

    North’s ponderous play on this tour can not simply be put down to form. There were loud calls for his omission from Wales’ Test side during this year’s Six Nations before a brilliant brace against Ireland.

    He may have another classic Lions display in him against the All Blacks – just bear in mind the currency he is paying with. His health, and it doesn’t come cheap.

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