George North arrived early and has stayed for a long time among the global elite of rugby players, so it’s only natural he should be quick off the mark into business, too.

 

He was just 18 when he first played for Wales, only 21 when he became a worldwide sensation for the British and Irish Lions and was the youngest player to reach a century of caps for Wales by the time he was 28.

 

So, why wait for retirement when he was able to find his feet as a businessman at the same time as planning a new stretch of his club career in France next season?

 

North is a director of a company that owns Baffle Haus, an innovative coffee shop at Goytre, near Pontypool in Monmouthshire.

 

It’s described as more than just somewhere to sit and drink coffee, though, and maybe catch a glimpse of North in full barista-mode behind the espresso machine.

 

It’s a “motorcycle event space” and “available for collaboration and private hire”, according to the five-strong group of owners, even available to those who don’t turn up in leathers or lycra.

 

When he’s not training with Wales for the upcoming Six Nations, or playing his final season for the Ospreys before his move to Provence in France in the summer, the 31-year-old North is giving some time and thought to his business.

 

“There is more of a crossover and connection from rugby into business than most people think, and more than I would have thought, too,” he says.

 

“Rugby has given me great skills – to be able to catch, kick and pass. But it has also given me plenty of other abilities, like being able to work as part of a team.

 

“Sport also enables you to become used to the setting of clear goals – in the short term, the medium and the long term.

 

“It can provide an opportunity to develop leadership skills as well, now that I’m a little more one of the senior players in the squad. It teaches you how to motivate people to reach their goals.”

 

All those softer skills like bumping off tacklers, means North has made a smooth-running start to the entrepreneurial world. Baffle Haus have already placed third in the inaugural Grounds of Innovation Awards for UK coffee shops.

 

There’s something else, he says, that sport, and principally rugby, has taught him.

 

That is specialisation and individual expertise. Just as he leaves the scrummaging and the line-out work to the forwards, fellow director Andrew Salter – the former Glamorgan cricketer – is left to get on with the marketing and PR.

 

“I don’t like to use the phrase horses for courses, but sport does enable people to flourish in the things they are really good at,” adds North.

 

“I often work remotely with brands and commercial partners, around my rugby time. But Andrew tends to do all our content and media because that’s something that he really enjoys and flourishes with.

 

“It’s about allowing each member of a team to be in the roles they are best suited for.”

 

Salter, who spent 11 years as a professional cricketer, helped get Baffle Haus off the ground with North in 2019, before ending his Glamorgan days last summer.

 

North – who also co-owns a number of bakeries in the Cardiff area called, “Ground” – says the idea for Baffle Haus came, like many ideas, over a pint.

 

“It was five like-minded guys who got together over a couple of pints. We worked out there was something that we would want to go to which was unavailable to us here in Wales. We thought we’d give it a go.”

 

The Covid lockdowns put a spoke in the wheel at first, but since normal business and social life returned, the business has thrived.

 

Rugby commitments means he is often restricted to one day a week at the venue, but he manages plenty of wheeling and dealing over a phone and laptop in order to bring in new brands to use the events space.

 

“In business you have to have a plan, but you’ve also got to be willing to give it a go. That’s the short and curlies of it.

 

“Players need to have a plan for when they stop, although I’m not yet thinking about retirement.

 

“Business, though, is something that excites me. I’ve been very lucky to play at the level I have done for as long as I have done.

 

“As someone once said, if you find something you enjoy, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.

 

“For me, if the business is something that can keep me busy, post-rugby and remains something that really excites me, I hope that can continue to be something I can dip into along with some of the other things I’ve got going on as well.”