George North: Ospreys and Wales back in line for February return
- Published
George North has won 102 Wales caps and played three Tests for the British and Irish Lions on two tours, in Australia in 2013 and New Zealand four years later
Ospreys say they are hoping Wales back George North will return to action next month.
North has been out since April 2021 with a knee injury and has not been named in the 2022 Six Nations squad.
Ospreys flanker Dan Lydiate is in line to return to action against Edinburgh on 29 January.
Toby Booth, Ospreys' head coach, confirmed Justin Tipuric will miss the Six Nations and will be out for "months rather than weeks".
Wales coach Wayne Pivac had revealed the news about Tipuric being ruled out of the tournament defence.
Aside from North, Lydiate and Tipuric, other British and Lions absentees in Pivac's 36-man Six Nations squad include Alun Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Taulupe Faletau, Josh Navidi and Leigh Halfpenny.
Pivac said North, Lydiate and Faletau are "probably the closest" to being able to play some part in the tournament.
North was injured while playing for Ospreys against Cardiff, while Lydiate suffered a serious knee injury playing for Wales against Ireland in the 2021 Six Nations opener last February.
"George is showing some good progress, which is great, we're hoping to get him back in February at some point," said Booth.
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"Dan has completed a week of training and we're hoping he's available for selection next week, which is great, to get someone like him back."
Wales start their Six Nations defence against Ireland on 5 February before hosting Scotland seven days later, with a trip to Twickenham scheduled for 26 February.
Two home games complete the campaign, with France visiting Cardiff on 11 March and Italy arriving eight days later.
Tipuric sidelined
The good news on Lydiate and North was countered by Tipuric's setback, after he suffered a shoulder injury while playing for the Lions against Japan in June 2021.
"We've had some second-opinion scans recently and I can confirm he's not going to be involved from a Six Nations point of view," added Booth.
"The injury isn't where we hoped it would be, so it's going to take a long time to get that right.
"So he's probably going to miss out on that and he's back when he's back.
"Without doubt it's going to be months rather than weeks now.
"It's sad for him. The same support we put around our fit players we need to put around our injured players, because the mental element of that the injury and time out is disappointing."
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When asked whether Tipuric would play again this season, Booth added: "We need to get through the next couple of months before I can make an accurate decision on that.
"At the moment it's just coming to the reality of what we do next.
"The disappointing thing for him is that he saw the goalposts were right in front of him.
"We'd got him back to doing some training, then under pressure there were a few warning signs. Under further investigation, we found the injury is not fixed as it needs to be.
"In the sport we play, you can't carry that because you'll end up doing some serious damage."