The old foes do battle at Twickenham tonight in what is one of the most anticipated games of the tournament. Warren Gatland’s men warmed up for the showdown with a 54-9 triumph over Uruguay after the Red Rose had battled to a bonus-point triumph over Fiji on the opening night.
And North can’t stand to wait another second to get the titanic encounter underway. He said: “I’m no good sat still. I’m just ready to get going now. Naturally I questioned why I wasn’t playing against Uruguay but when the boss man says no you can’t argue. I have got my chance this Saturday and am looking forward to it.
“For me the world cup is the biggest honour. Whenever I put a Welsh jersey on I want to play my best so there is no lack of effort. But any world cup is the time you want to be shining and obviously being so close to home it would be a good one to shine in.”
North will not be the biggest man behind the scrum for once as he prepares to take-on an England backline including the big-hitting Sam Burgess. Stuart Lancaster has gone with the rugby league convert alongside Owen Farrell, who replaces George Ford, and Brad Barritt.
And North reckons the best way to breakdown the brutish backline could be to give them the runaround. He said: “I have just to get work hard regardless of the centres. They have obviously got two big bashers in Burgess and Barritt, and the more we play and work around them the better. I think the more Hallam, Sanjay and I can get our hands on the ball, the quicker the tempo we can get, the better it will fall into our game plan.
“If I am honest the amount of times we have played England I don’t think Stuart will have picked a team that he doesn’t think can do a job on the day. If you watch their first match against Fiji they were very clinical- they could have been better in some aspects. They know the firepower we can bring. They don’t know everyone obviously. We have got the chance to show what we can do.”
