Wales star George North not ‘too far away’ from comeback despite setbacks

George North remains on course to play this season despite suffering “a couple of setbacks” in his recovery from a serious knee injury.

The Wales and Ospreys star has been sidelined for 11 months, ruling him out of British and Irish Lions contention to tour South Africa last summer, plus the Autumn Nations Series and Guinness Six Nations.

North has not travelled with the Ospreys squad to South Africa, where they have United Rugby Championship appointments with the Emirates Lions and DHL Stormers during the next 10 days.

But Welsh derby fixtures against Cardiff and the Scarlets next month are a realistic target for the 29-year-old wing and centre, who has won 102 Wales caps.

Ospreys head coach Toby Booth said: “He’s not fully training yet.

“The last five per cent is always the hardest to get, and he wasn’t quite right. We don’t think he is too far away.

“He is a big man, whose knee will respond differently to other people with the same injury.

We are governed by the symptoms that happen once he trains- Ospreys head coach Toby Booth

“We are governed by the symptoms that happen once he trains, so we need to make sure we get control of that.

“Like with all of our players, you don’t want players back for a week, you want them back for good.

“There has been a couple of setbacks of how his knee has reacted to training. We don’t think they are serious setbacks.

“You have got to build endurance into an injury as well, so it doesn’t react every time it is stressed.

“We are confident we will get him back as soon as his body will let him. That’s a few weeks away yet.”

None of Ospreys’ current Wales contingent – they had nine players involved in the Six Nations – have travelled to South Africa.

But some of them could head out and be