George North: Wales make wing available for Ospreys at Connacht

George North made his first Ospreys appearance of the season in the win over Benetton

Wing George North will miss Wales' Autumn Nations Cup match with England on Saturday and will instead play for Ospreys at Connacht on the same day.

North played in Ospreys' Pro14 win over Benetton last Sunday after he was left out of Wales' victory over Georgia.

"He wants to be enjoying his rugby again, he wants to be contributing to the Ospreys," said coach Toby Booth.

"And if he does that, he knows his chance of playing for Wales increases, so it's a win for everybody."

Wales face England in their final Autumn Nations Cup group game in Llanelli.

North, who made his 100th Test appearance as a replacement against Ireland on 13 November, helped Ospreys defeat Benetton 24-22 at St Helen's and looked impressive in attack.

"His actions spoke for themselves. He was very influential," Booth added.

"It's difficult when you're in the pressure cooker of international rugby, especially with the Covid-19 bubble, to come back and perform like he did and have some fun and express yourself. I think we saw the best of George."

After the game in Swansea, Booth said the plan was for North to remain with Ospreys but there was a chance that would change following injuries to Wales players.

Back-three duo Liam Williams (mouth) and Johnny McNicholl (ribs) were injured against Georgia but Williams is now back in training.

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac has Leigh Halfpenny, Josh Adams, Louis Rees-Zammit, Jonah Holmes and Ioan Lloyd as other back-three options in his squad.

"I have spoken to him [Pivac]. That's between me, Wayne and George," said Booth.

"If Wayne wants to discuss that, it's Wales business, not Ospreys business.

"Ultimately, we know what George can do, we want to help George to be the best version of George.

"Wayne has an opinion of what he wants George to do so we need to make sure we splice that all together to get George being the best version of himself, then ultimately those things get answered and the questions he has get answered.

"I don't think it's anything more than he hasn't played much rugby and he wants to play."