Welsh coach Warren Gatland warns George North to remain focused
Welsh coach Warren Gatland has warned 18-year-old George North that he must remain focused on his rugby.
The winger has received glowing praises after his debut in Wales’ 25-29 loss to South Africa.
North scored two tries in the match and was the Welsh team’s most effective player.
Speaking to reporters, Gatland said, "We've seen in the past it's easy for players to get distracted by the requests from outside and doing autographs, opening stuff, getting paid for doing little bits and pieces. At the end of the day it can sometimes affect
their performance and he's aware of that, and hopefully he'll keep level-headed and let the rugby do the talking.”
Gatland reminded the player that he must maintain the level of performance he produced against the Springboks and ignore the hype from ex-professionals and the media.
"I had a good chat to him about this and said 'your bread and butter is about training and performing', and all the bits and pieces will come as long as he keeps performing on the field,” said the Welsh coach.
Gatland will be eager to protect the teenager from the media circus. North has been compared with Welsh legend John Bevan who was a British and Irish Lion, despite only making his debut.
The Welsh coach admitted that he was happy with the player, but he will look to keep the winger concentrated on his rugby and the Test match with Fiji on Friday 19 November. "We're very pleased with him, we've got to make sure we look after him. The thing
for George now is to keep his feet on the ground," Gatland said.
The Welsh coach encouraged North to continue performing, and that if he focused on rugby, the financial rewards and spotlight would follow. "The big-money contracts will come later, the boot deals, all that sort of stuff will take care of itself as long
as he keeps doing what he's doing," said Gatland.
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