Experience to lift Force in 2007: Sharpe

[Burgs]

Going by the last few lines, a very timely and astute press release by the Force

Experience to lift Force in 2007: Sharpe

ABC

Western Force captain Nathan Sharpe says his team will look to improve this season after finishing bottom of the Super 14 ladder last year.

The Force made their debut last year, winning just one game and drawing two.

The team has since made some high profile signings in Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell, and Sharpe has said his team would benefit from having a solid base of young players.

"We blooded 14 new players into the Super 14 and that's going to carry a lot of weight this year when we go back into the competition," said Sharpe.

"Again you add to that the majority of the side's been here for the whole pre-season.

"I think it certainly makes for a better picture than all the guys coming in January last year, not knowing each other and starting from scratch."

Meanwhile Force coach John Mitchell has said an injury to Wallabies full-back Chris Latham could present a good opportunity for two of his players.Latham needs a knee reconstruction and will miss this season's Super 14 series.

Drew Mitchell and Cameron Shepherd are tipped as possible replacements for Latham, and the Force coach said he was taking precautions to ensure all Wallaby players in his side train responsibly.

"I must admit that the whole process has been quite loosely arranged but we're managing our players in a proper way," Mitchell said.

"Our internationals that have just returned, we don't put them totally into full training - we're very prescriptive in what they do."

[frontrow]

The last thing we need is for one of our "stars" to end up like Latham, and after last years injury plagued season they would be really careful about incidents off the park, or accidents at the training paddock...Lets hope we can have a relatively injury free season, and that a few more Force fella`s make the Wallabies for RWC07...

[Shaun]

Cheers to that Frontrow!