George North suffered a "horrible sense of déjà vu" when Kurtley Beale stepped up to kick that last minute penalty for the Qantas Wallabies that could have robbed the British & Irish Lions of victory in Brisbane.
The penalty took try scorer North, and his Welsh team mates, back to their four games against Australia last year when they were beaten by the smallest of margins on each occasion.
So, when Beale lined-up the 45 metre shot at goal North expected him to kick it and condemn him to another agonising defeat at the death.
“It was like a horrible sense of déjà vu with that last kick because we’ve lost so many times to Australia with Wales like that. That’s how thin the margins are between winning and losing a Test match,” said North.
“It was a relief to win like that, but in our heart of hearts we know we can play better – we know that wasn’t our best performance. It was great to get a first Test win, but we know we have to tighten up our game and play better than that.
“”We’ve got to get our heads together this week, keep working hard and keep pushing and, hopefully, we can wrap up the series on Saturday.”
North scored one try and was convinced he should have been awarded a second moments later, but it was ruled out by the TMO. His opposite number, Israel Folau, upstaged him by scoring twice, but North was still very happy with his score.
“I think it’s called panic running. It was just a case of run, run, run and run and hopefully the gaps will open,” he added. “It’s up there among the best tries I’ve scored and I was pretty chuffed to score in my first Test for the Lions.”
