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NICK TAYLOR, The West Australian December 19, 2009, 10:31 am
The Western Force are likely to kick off the 2010 Super 14 season without an experienced hooker.
The club has only eight weeks to unearth a player to fill the crucial No. 2 jumper before the opening game against the ACT Brumbies at ME Bank Stadium.
The Force have had a fruitless search for an experienced rake since Tai McIsaac retired last season and second string Luke Holmes was cut from the squad.
There have been unsuccessful moves for Queensland's Sean Hardman, Australian U-20 captain Damien Fitzpatrick, who re-signed with NSW, Tatafu Polota-Nau, also from the Waratahs, and Springbok Bismarck du Plessis from the Sharks.
The Force were also blocked by the Australian Rugby Union in their bid to sign Otago hooker Peter Mirrielees as their second overseas player.
The ARU claimed that at 27, Mirrielees was too old to fit their protocol for imported players, yet it is widely accepted that front-rowers only mature later in their career.
The New Zealander would have had to play three seasons in Australia to be eligible for national selection.
McIsaac was 30 when he made his debut for the Force, won his first Test cap a year later and went on to play for the Wallabies seven more times.
The Force unsuccessfully appealed the ARU decision.
Currently, the only options are Australian U-20 representative Ben Whittaker, 20, who has only played 56 minutes of Super rugby, coming off the bench in three games last season, and Rockingham's Ryan Tyrell, 26, who has been switched from loose forward by the Force.
They have ruled out using specialist loosehead prop Pek Cowan, who was touted as a hooker behind Stephen Moore and Polota-Nau by Wallabies coach Robbie Deans during the northern hemisphere tour.
However, Cowan, who has three Test caps at prop, only came off the bench twice as a replacement in midweek tour games.
Force rugby manager Mitch Hardy said: "Mirrielees obviously did not fit the profile of the ARU. We argued that he would have been beneficial to the Force program but the ARU is obviously only looking for players that can offer something to the Australian program.
"We were very disappointed with the decision and we are still chipping away, but there are not many options open to us.
"There is not a lot of hooking stocks in Australia, which is why we were disappointed.
"The ARU gave us a list of long-shot names but most are already on contract
"The most likely scenario is still a player from New Zealand, but we may look at a couple of guys from the Sydney competition."
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/spo...s-is-a-hooker/
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Originally Posted by Burgs
