With Wales potentially in line to capture the Championship, if England slip up against Ireland, and in front of 80,000 people at the Stade de France, there can be few more intimidating games in which to start your first Six Nations match.

But Gatland revealed he had no hesitation in giving North his break after a shoulder injury ruled him out of the start of the Six Nations.

He said: "We just think he's a real quality player of the future, somebody who's going to be special and he's still learning his trade.

"But in a year or two I think he's going to be an absolute star in the game.

"It was a hard call on someone like Morgan Stoddart who's done really well for us, trained well, so it was a toss-of-the-coin decision in which way we went.

"But we see George as a real player of the future. He's playing on the left wing and possibly in the long-term future he maybe a midfield option for us as well.

"But he's hugely talented. He's a very intelligent rugby player, works really hard and at 18 and 105kg it's not bad assets to start off with in his international career.

"It's his first game away from home as well so he's pretty excited about it and we're looking forward to what possible impact he will have on the match."