George North is ahead of schedule on his long road to recovery as the Wales international continues his rehabilitation from injury.
The 29-year-old winger – and sometime centre – has been out of action since suffering the serious knee ligament injury while playing for Ospreys against Cardiff in April.
North’s injury cost him a place on The British & Irish Lions Tour and Ospreys head coach Toby Booth has confirmed he is still expected to miss Wales’ autumn internationals.
But Booth also revealed that North is two to four weeks ahead of schedule
Asked about the latest progress of North – along with Justin Tipuric, Dan Lydiate and Dewi Lake – Booth said: “They’re all a little bit ahead of schedule, but they are still quite long term.
“If you look at where they should be, they are probably ranging between two to four weeks in front of where they should be.
“But there are obviously lots of consultancies and physical markers that you have to tick off. They are all two to four weeks in front of where you’d expect them to be at this point.”
North and Tipuric could yet feature for Ospreys before the end of the year while both are expected to be fit in time for Wales’ Guinness Six Nations title defence.
Wales back North, who has 101 caps for his country, took to Twitter on Thursday to post a video of him running again as he continues his rehabilitation.
North tweeted: “Running! Felt a little robotic but running none the less. FT my rehab buddy @dan_lydiate aka the Lead bear”
Earlier this month, Ospreys announced that North had extended his spell at the club for another two years after signing a new dual contract with the region and Wales.
Wales welcome New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji and Australia to Cardiff for the Autumn Nations Series.
AUTUMN SCHEDULE
Wales v New Zealand, Cardiff, October 30, kick-off: 5:15pm
Wales v South Africa, Cardiff, November 6, kick-off: 5:30pm
Wales v Fiji, Cardiff, November 14, kick-off: 3:15pm
Wales v Australia, Cardiff, November 20, kick-off: 5:30pm
