Western Force Take Shape for Pre-Season

[Darren]

Emirates Western Force Coach John Mitchell has named a strong starting XV for Thursday’s pre-season clash with the Queensland Reds at Members Equity Stadium (7.05pm WA kick off).

Among the new inclusions for the Force is inside centre Scott Staniforth, who returns to action for the first time since injuring his shoulder during the Wallabies’ 2007 World Cup campaign in France.

Lock David Pusey and back rower Scott Fava also return to the lineup after sitting out the team’s opening trial defeat to the Crusaders in Melbourne last Saturday with minor injury complaints.

While fielding a strong lineup for his team’s final pre-season hit out, Mitchell insisted he has not yet settled on his preferred lineup for the Super 14 season opener in Durban on February 15.

“It’s our final pre-season match so we needed to look at a few more guys in the run on team prior to naming our squad to fly to South Africa,” said Mitchell.

“We are still a way off settling on our lineup for the opening match against the Sharks, and at the moment it’s about building our depth as a group,” he added.

“Just about everyone in the squad will have played decent minutes (for the pre-season) after Thursday night’s match.”

Mitchell said Thursday’s trail would give his side a well-rounded preparation leading into the start of the competition proper.

“We’re fortunate enough to have matches against teams from each country to start our campaign. We played the Crusaders (NZ) and we’ll also play an Aussie team (the Reds) before opening the competition against the Sharks in South Africa,” he said.

“Plus we’re growing our game under the new ELV’s (Experimental Law Variations) and looking for what will work best for us on the field.”

Tickets are still available for the clash, which is the sole pre-season match to be played in WA before the Force return from South Africa to take on the Crusaders in Week Four (Sunday 9 March).

Tickets: Ticketmaster 136100 or Official Ticketmaster site. Tickets for Concerts, Sports, Arts, Theatre, Family, Events, more.

Emirates Western Force v Queensland Reds
Thursday 7 February, 2008
Members Equity Stadium, Perth
Kick off: 7.05pm (9.05pm AEDST)

Emirates Western Force
1. Gareth Hardy
2. Tai McIsaac
3. AJ Whalley
4. David Pusey
5. Nathan Sharpe (c)
6. Scott Fava
7. David Pocock
8. Richard Brown

9. Matt Henjak
10. Matt Giteau (vc)
11. Drew Mitchell
12. Scott Staniforth
13. Ryan Cross
14. Nick Cummins
15. Cameron Shepherd

Reserves (to be selected from)

Luke Holmes, Troy Takiari, Pek Cowan, Sitaleki Timani, Scott Fardy, Matt Hodgson, Sam Wykes, James Stannard, Scott Daruda, Josh Tatupu, Dane Haylett-Petty, James O’Connor, Keiran Longbottom, Lachlan MacKay.

[Thequeerone]

and the Reds Team:

QR Reds captain John Roe will lead a strong squad of 23 to Perth for their final pre-season trial of 2008, against the Western Force on Thursday night.

Roe rejoins the side after recovering from an off-season shoulder reconstruction.

Wing Clinton Schifcofske (calf) and scrumhalf Will Genia (broken hand) are also back on deck for the last hitout before the Reds open their Investec Super 14 campaign against the Highlanders at Suncorp Stadium on Friday, February 15.

Head coach Phil Mooney has largely stayed with the team that came within seconds of defeating Super 14 semi-final contenders, Auckland's Blues, in a trial match at Ballymore on Thursday night. The Reds led 19-18 after a stirring fightback but were pipped at the post by the Blues, 25-19.

"It’s always nice to win, but being realistic, these are all still trial games, an opportunity to try a few things and get players match fit. If we can get our patterns right against the Force we’ll be happy with that,” Mooney said.

"We passed up penalty goal opportunities against the Blues that could have changed the final score because we wanted to play footy, so we stuck to the strategy despite the opportunity to take some easy points from kicks.

“Our main focus all along has been on the Highlanders on February 15," Mooney said.

The Reds team is:
15. Chris Latham
14. Brando Va'aulu
13. Morgan Turinui
12. Chris Siale,
11. Clinton Schifcofske
10. Berrick Barnes
9. Sam Cordingley
8. John Roe (c)
7. David Croft
6. Hugh McMeniman
5. James Horwill
4. Van Humphries
3. Rodney Blake
2. Stephen Moore
1.Greg Holmes.

Reserves (16-23): Sean Hardman, Ben Coutts, Dayna Edwards, Ed O'Donoghue, Leroy Houston, Will Genia, Quade Cooper, Andrew Walker.

Former Western Force wing Digby Ioane (knee) will miss the match to be fully rested for February 15.

"We've given Digby one more week to get over his off-season knee surgery but he could have played had this been the Super 14. We know what Digby can do on the footy field, he's an exceptional player, so there was no need to rush him back for a trial," said Mooney.

For Thursday night's match the QR Reds will again wear their special trial jersey, featuring prominent green panels at the front and back to promote the energy efficiency campaign of major sponsor EnergyAustralia.

[hopep]

Thanks TQ1,
That looks like a pretty good line up. Close to their top. Their back row with McMeniman and Croft couild be a handful.
shame Digby wasn't up to it - would have loved to see him against his old team.

[travelling_gerry]

Force's Super 14 side still undecided
February 5, 2008 - 4:38PM

Western Force coach John Mitchell has continued to dangle the carrot of Super 14 selection for his younger players, despite appearing to name his best squad for this week's final trial game against Queensland in Perth.

With returns for Scott Fava, Scott Staniforth and David Pusey, the Force XV to face the Reds on Thursday took on a "first-choice" look, with only the late withdrawal of winger Haig Sare throwing some doubt on his availability.

But Mitchell, who gave many of lesser lights game time in the second half of the loss to the Crusaders last weekend, said his mind was still to settle on his favoured combination.

"It's our final pre-season match so we needed to look at a few more guys in the run-on team prior to naming our squad to fly to South Africa," Mitchell said.

"We are still a way off settling on our line-up for the opening match against the Sharks, and at the moment it's about building our depth as a group.

"Just about everyone in the squad will have played decent minutes (for the pre-season) after Thursday night's match."

The Force welcome back Staniforth into their midfield after his recovery from a shoulder injury suffered during Australia's World Cup campaign.

Matt Giteau will again play at flyhalf, where he has trained for the entire pre-season and he has categorically stated he wants to stay there this year.

His duel with potential Wallaby rival Berrick Barnes could be one of the highlights of the game, and one of the talking points of the Super 14 season.

Mitchell will also have both his errant back rowers, Richard Brown and Fava, in action together for the first time since their off-season "Quokka" disgrace during drunken antics on Rottnest Island.

Fava had been struggling with a slight hamstring niggle.

David Pusey will partner captain Nathan Sharpe in the second row, after his off-season ankle surgery, while Lachlan MacKay also makes a welcome return to the Force bench after two years battling various injuries.

Mitchell said the trial would give his side a well-rounded preparation leading into the start of the competition.

"We're fortunate enough to have matches against teams from each country to start our campaign." he said.

"We played the Crusaders and we'll also play an Aussie team before opening the competition against the Sharks in South Africa.

"Plus were growing our game under the new ELVs (Experimental Law Variations) and looking for what will work best for us on the field."

Western Force: Cameron Shepherd, Nick Cummins, Ryan Cross, Scott Staniforth, Drew Mitchell, Matt Giteau, Matt Henjak, Richard Brown, David Pocock, Scott Fava, Nathan Sharpe (capt), David Pusey, AJ Whalley, Tai McIsaac, Gareth Hardy. Res: Luke Holmes, Troy Takiari, Pek Cowan, Sitaleki Timani, James Stannard, Scott Fardy, Matt Hodgson, Sam Wykes, Scott Daruda, Josh Tatupu, Nick Cummins, Dane Haylett-Petty, James O'Connor, Kieran Longbottom, Lachlan MacKay.

© 2008 AAP
Brought to you by

[zimeric]

*DROOLS*

[Darren]

6PR will be broadcasting this match with Mick Colliss & Jimmy Hilgendorf providing commentary.

Broadcast starts at 6:00 PM with a 1 hour pre-match rugby show!

Unfortunately they are not allowed to stream the game over the internet, although I believe the pre-match rugby show will be streamed.

Tune in live here: http://www.mytalk.com.au/aspx/pages/...?t=radio&w=6PR

[The InnFORCEr]

wicked

[bort]

what was the crowd turnout like?
and what was it like watching a game at MES?
to anyone that could make the trip (work )

[travelling_gerry]

Crowd was about 4,000 odd...

Great venue....so close to the players............

[shasta]

Highlights:

Lachie scored.

The 2 back-up 9's look the goods.

Sitaleki Timani's defense.

Gits chasing down Andrew Walker from behind, getting straight to his feet and taking out the support runner. Top shelf - earns what he gets paid every week..

Stanners at 12.

The flexibility of the backline.

Roll on.

[bort]

Sitaleki Timani's defense.

a player im particularly interested in as his former club was the rugby league team Cronulla Sharks of which I am a huge supporter.
hoping to see a fair bit of him this year.
appeared to exhibit signs of laziness and lack of dedication in training in league
but he appears to have turned this around
maybe due to the fact he wasnt going anywhere in league (due to said lack of dedication and effort, he def had the potential) or by a preference for union

[shasta]

appeared to exhibit signs of laziness and lack of dedication in training in league
but he appears to have turned this around

Hmmmmm. Well we hope so. Hadn't heard that and he only came on mid second half.

[AndyS]

We'll only see him if Pusey is injured, as that is the condition on the ARU dispensation. If he was not hugely committed to League, I'd wonder how much he was interested. He is only 20, but is already down to just a few months left on his 3 year residential requirement. That would have prevented him from playing professional Union, so League may just have been a means to an end.

[AndyS]

On that subject though, I'm also keenly interested to see how he goes. I was well impressed with him during the ARC and was pleased to see the Force picked him up. They must rate him too, as they gave him a contract without any sort of guarantee that he would be able to play this year. I assume they were looking at giving him a developmental season, but getting the dispensation was a bonus in that it eases concerns about depth in the second row and may even give him a little game time this year.

[The InnFORCEr]

You'll probably see him in action at Perry Lakes on Saturday after Public Training (4.30 - 6pm) followed by Gold v Academy at 6pm.