Wales sweat on Northampton letting George North play for them against Australia

“We have communicated with our players who are sensing opportunities outside

of Wales, in England and France, to make sure in their contract negotiations

they have availability outside the IRB regulations in terms of preparation

for international rugby.

“We will see in the autumn series that players like George North, Dan

Lydiate and Jamie Roberts all have the availability.”

North’s release would go against a long-standing Premiership Rugby policy

which a spokesman confirmed was to release players only in IRB window.

While England’s

players in the Premiership are available for games outside of the IRB window

because of the eight-year agreement between the Rugby Football Union and the

clubs signed in 2007, the Premiership clubs have not previously released

non-English players.

An impasse developed between the WRU and Premiership Rugby in 2011 over

concerns that Andy Powell, Dwayne Peel and Gavin Henson would not be

released in time to play a full part in Wales’s pre-World Cup preparations.

Premiership Rugby said the clubs were only prepared to release the players for

the IRB’s statutory 35 days before the start of the tournament, by which

stage Wales had already played warm-up games against the Barbarians and

England.

Meanwhile, England’s final autumn programme before the 2015 Rugby

World Cup on home soil will see Stuart Lancaster’s side face New

Zealand, South

Africa, Samoa and Australia at Twickenham, starting with the All

Blacks on Nov 8. The schedule is subject to final IRB approval.

“To be able to take on these teams in successive weeks is ideal preparation

for the World Cup and will tell us a lot about where we are one year out,”

said Lancaster.

England’s QBE international series this season begins on Nov 2 against

Australia and is followed by Tests against Argentina

on Nov 9 and New Zealand on Nov 16.

Wales sweat on Northampton letting George North play for them against Australia