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George North has announced that this Saturday’s match against Italy will be his last for Wales.
North, 31, has made 121 appearances for his country and will end his international career as Wales’ most capped back and third most capped player of all time.
He will become the sixth long-serving Welsh player to retire in the last 12 months alongside top appearance holder Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric, Rhys Webb, Dan Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny.
North will continue to play in the club game, as he prepares to move from Ospreys to Pro D2 club Provence at the end of the season.
“It has not been an easy decision for me at all,” North said in an emotional press conference at Wales’ training base. “It is the best thing for me and my family and the sacrifice everyone has to make.
“I didn’t think this day would come – I wished this day would never come – but for me it is about being able to go out on my terms and being able to enjoy it like I have for every second of the last 14 years.
“I am going to use this week and Saturday to really take it all in and to live my dream again one more time.
“For me, it has always been about me being the best I can be for Wales and being the best I can be with the Three Feathers on my chest.
“I have loved every second of it and cherished every second of it – the highs and the lows. I couldn’t have written it better myself, to be hones
“I have been very fortunate to live a dream not many people get to do.”
North will end his 13-and-a-half-year career in the international game with a distinguished list of achievements – both personally and with the Welsh team.
The winger-turned-centre has scored 47 tries to leave him second on the all-time list for Wales, has won two Grand Slams and a further two Six Nations titles, played in four Rugby World Cups including two semi-finals and scored a brace of test tries across as many Lions tours – only missing out on a third tour in 2021 due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
As well as possessing a fierce turn of pace North has become famous for his power, perhaps best epitomised when he lifted Israel Folau above his head while the ex-Australian full-back attempted a tackle on him in the first of those three tours in 2013, and put in a huge tackle of his own on a young Owen Farrell in Wales’ Six Nations Grand Slam campaign of the year before.
The match before his iconic show of strength against Folau he scored a stunning try in the first test to get the Lions off to a winning start in a tour for the first time since 2001, eventually playing and scoring in the final test to secure their first test series triumph since 1997.
After he became Wales’ youngest scorer in tests and youngest to cross the whitewash at a World Cup he also became their most junior to reach 50 tests at the age of 23, and eventually became the youngest in the world to reach 100 caps for his country aged 28 in February 2021.
He remains the first and only player to have played in four World Cup quarter-finals for Wales and played in 50 Six Nations games for the country – the latter of which was achieved in this year’s defeat to England.
“George has contributed hugely to Welsh rugby in an incredible career, starting as an 18-year-old,” Wales head coach Warren Gatland said.
“The way that he burst on to the scene. I can remember seeing him play and thinking, ‘We need to cap this kid’.
“He has been incredible as a rugby player, but I think the most important thing is how he has contributed to the squad as a person over the years.
“How positive and encouraging he has been within and around the group, things that people wouldn’t have seen in terms of what he has organised off the field.
“George has been outstanding and a credit to himself. He can definitely hold his head high. He and his family and friends can be very proud of everything he has achieved.
“I look forward to watching George play at the Principality Stadium one final time in a red jersey on Saturday and I hope everyone will join me in celebrating him. Diolch George.”
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