Hockings into Starting Lineup for Wykes
Emirates Western Force Coach John Mitchell has made a late change to his starting lineup for Saturday night’s clash with the Bulls in Pretoria.
Lock Sam Wykes was this morning (SA time) ruled out of the crucial Week 12 match, failing to adequately recover from muscular and ligament damage to his left shoulder which he sustained during last week’s record romp over the Lions.
The Australian Under 20s star will be replaced in the starting lineup by Tom Hockings, who was originally named on the bench.
Mitchell will retain five forwards on the reserves bench, with lock/flanker Richard Stanford slotting into the number 19 jersey.
“Sam isn’t quite 100 per cent unfortunately, so we’ve had to make a decision on him this morning,” said Mitchell.
“We were still hopeful that he might come through (after yesterday’s training session), but we’re also fortunate to have some good depth in the squad and will start with Tom Hockings and bring Richard Stanford onto the bench.”
The Emirates Western Force will wrap up preparations for the must-win match with their captains run session at Loftus Versfeld this morning.
The full revised team list is as follows:
2009 Investec Super 14 Week 12
Emirates Western Force v Bulls
Saturday 2 May, 2009
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, SA
Kick off: 5.05pm SA (11.05pm) AWST
Emirates Western Force
1. Pek Cowan
2. Tai McIsaac
3. Ben Castle
4. Tom Hockings
5. Nathan Sharpe (c)
6. Matt Hodgson
7. David Pocock
8. Richard Brown
9. Josh Valentine
10. Matt Giteau
11. Cameron Shepherd
12. James O’Connor
13. Ryan Cross
14. Scott Staniforth
15. Drew Mitchell
Reserves
16. Ben Whittaker
17. AJ Whalley
18. Gareth Hardy
19. Richard Stanford
20. Tamaiti Horua
21. Josh Tatupu
22. Haig Sare
