POCOCK PREDICTS EMOTIONAL SEASON-ENDER

[RugbyWA]

POCOCK PREDICTS EMOTIONAL SEASON-ENDER
Thursday, 14 May 2009 2:29pm
Chris Pike - Sportal

Dave Pocock is preciting an emotional finale at Subiaco Oval this weekendSaturday night's clash with the Highlanders will be an emotional one for star No. 7 David Pocock as the Emirates Western Force farewell a host of stars and Subiaco Oval.

Pocock has once again starred this Investec Super 14 season with the Force and will be battling with George Smith and Phil Waugh to be the Wallabies starting openside flanker.

However, that won't be on his mind this Saturday on Subiaco Oval with Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Tai McIsaac, Tamaiti Horua, Ben Castle and Scott Staniforth saying their farewell.

"We still have one more game to go and it will be pretty emotional on Saturday night with a few guys leaving, so we are more focused on that at the moment and Wallabies selection is out of our hands," Pocock said.

"Going to South Africa we were in with a chance to still make finals and that was our goal, but we missed out on that. To now send the boys that are leaving off on a good note is the focus, and we owe it to our crowd at Subi because it will be the last game there, so it should be good.

"Before hand it will be pretty normal and everyone will get on with the job, but afterwards there could be a few tears shed. They will be missed no doubt, but we have new guys coming in and I guess it's exciting for them to get a chance next year."

Not only will the Force be saying goodbye to those players, but also to Subiaco Oval as the club moves to the rectangular Members Equity Stadium next year, which still requires Government funding for an upgrade. Pocock is looking forward to the move.

"We've been playing there for a while now, but definitely for rugby in Western Australia we have to go to a rectangular stadium," he said.

"After playing at a ground like Newlands where the crowd is so close and loud, it's amazing, so all the boys are pretty excited about moving. Hopefully we can make it our home and a lot tougher for teams to win there."

Pocock and the recently re-signed Richard Brown have emerged as one of the best combinations at No. 7 and 8 in world rugby and could easily be that pairing for the Wallabies. Pocock was delighted that his good mate put pen to paper with the Force for the next two years.

"That's massive for the Force. Browny was at the very first training session for the Force and has put his heart and soul into the place over the last four years," he said.

"To see him stay is really good for those of us that are staying, and also for those that haven’t signed yet. We really enjoy playing together and get along well off the field, so it was a big bonus for me to have him staying."

While Pocock hasn’t heard anything from the coaching staff of the Wallabies, he's sure to be in the squad and he has been happy with his 2009 season.

"I haven’t heard anything at all. We just got told by the media guy to come down for this and haven’t spoken to any of the coaches yet. I don’t know if it's a good sign or not because he doesn’t have much to do with the coaches," he said.

"I think I've gone all right. I've enjoyed the more game time after last year only playing 60 minutes in most games and this year I've played pretty much every minute. I've focused on trying to improve each week and just see how I go."


original...