Today's rugby news as Wales players blown away by George North's performances in training

Here's your round-up of all the latest rugby news from Wales and beyond for Saturday, July 2.

Nick Tompkins has been blown away by his centre partner George North in training this week.

The centurion is poised to make his return to the Test arena after an extended spell on the sidelines due to a serious knee injury after the 2021 Six Nations. The pair will link up in a new-look Welsh midfield at Loftus Versfeld following months of change in the 12 and 13 channels recently, and Tompkins is relishing the opportunity of sharing the field with the vastly-experienced North.

He said: “It’s a testament to him as a bloke, the injury he had and for him to come into training and look as sharp as he does, it's really impressive and he’s straight into the team because of it. I’m sure there will be some nerves but they’ll go away and you’ll see what he can bring.

“He’s been brilliant, especially in training with some of the stuff he’s been doing, he looks like he’s not missed a beat. It’s massively exciting to be playing alongside him.”

Tompkins has had a handful of different centre partners in recent months, and has been sharing coffees with North and having regular chats around the team room so the pair become familiar but admits it has been tough.

“You really want to build up that rapport, get to know the person, what he likes, how he defends and how he attacks, what he likes to do,” he says, before adding: “It’s on us as centres to really lock this down and give no excuses to be swapped in and out. You can’t point the finger towards anyone else. I hope that’s what we can do because we need to start getting some consistency now as we build towards the World Cup. It starts [on Saturday].”

Meanwhile, Ugo Monye believes George North