George North may have the power and pace to worry anyone in the world but England already have a plan to stop him wreaking havoc when Wales visit Twickenham a week on Sunday. North's move to Northampton and his recent switch to outside-centre means he could end up playing opposite his club-mate Luther Burrell, who has very clear ideas about how best to subdue his fellow Saint.
Burrell and North are good friends, so much so they have even bonded over Burrell's pet dog. "George has got two personalities; you get him on the field and he's an animal, get him off the field and he's the complete opposite," says the Huddersfield-born centre. "We spend a lot of time together. George has an interest in dogs – he's after a French bulldog and I've got one."
His inside track on North's likes and dislikes extends to knowing the easiest way of keeping him quiet on the field. "With George you just have to shut his space down because you don't want to give him time … you know he has the x-factor and that he can get over the gainline and sidestep you. We will have to put a couple of defenders on him or he will be away."
The widespread view inside the England camp, even so, is that they are dealing with a special talent. Stuart Lancaster, the head coach, nominated North this week as the Welsh player he would most like to pick for England and Burrell has seen enough during the 21-year-old's time at Franklin's Gardens to rank his mate among the most feared players in the world.
"I would say he is right up there. Whether he is on the Jonah Lomu scale I don't know because Jonah was my idol growing up and it will be pretty hard to knock him off that pedestal. But what he does in games is fantastic and the way he trains is brilliant. I think that is the reason everything falls into place for him."
The spectacular long-range tries scored by North against the Ospreys and Harlequins this season have further endeared him to his team-mates. Northampton, in Burrell's view, may well have done Wales a considerable favour in terms of polishing up a star player and developing his game. "Once we knew we'd signed George, everyone was really chuffed because he's the sort of player who can change a game for you. It took a few games for him to fully get settled into the way we play but he has really come into his own. You look on whilst we are on the pitch and think: 'How has he done that?'
"I don't really tackle him because we are normally on the same side, but I know he has a tremendous amount of power. His partner [Becky James] is a British Olympic cyclist and they do a lot of training on the Wattbikes. He is a real talent and a fantastic player, both to know and play with."
Burrell, however, is growing accustomed to facing down top-class opponents. He has now finished on the winning side against Brian O'Driscoll for both club and country this season and is looking forward to measuring himself against either North or the fit-again Lion Jonathan Davies.
He suspects North would much prefer to be back on the left wing. "His first position is wing and that's where he likes to play. Knowing George, he likes to be on the end of set plays and finishing off tries. That's when he's happy."
Tactically, regardless of Warren Gatland's eventual selection, England will continue to gear their training towards countering Wales's trademark rush defence. "Their main aim will be to bring a lot of line speed and it is a huge threat to us," Burrell says.
"We also don't want to get drawn too much into a ruck battle. We want as much width as possible to really go and take the game to them, rather than let their big runners come around the corner and smash over the gainline.
"We have to take the game to them defensively as well. We'll be doing a lot of work with Andy Farrell in the coming days and, hopefully, we'll be able to do a job."
