Force Squad Annouced for Brumbies Clash

[Darren]

Pek Cowan will play his first Super 14 game as hooker on Friday when the Western Force begin their 2010 campaign against the Brumbies at ME Bank Stadium.

Cowan made a big impression in the role in the convincing warm-up win over the Reds last week, on the back of two midweek games for the Wallabies in the No.2 jumper during the tour of Europe last November.

Coach John Mitchell has also named young Sam Wykes in the second row to play alongside skipper Nathan Sharpe, while Ryan Cross looks to have shaken off an abdominal strain after being named as outside centre, with James O'Connor in at fullback.

Team:
1 Nic Henderson
2 Pek Cowan
3 Matt Dunning
4 Sam Wykes
5 Nathan Sharpe (c)
6 Matt Hodgson
7 David Pocock (vc)
8 Richard Brown

9 Brett Sheehan
10 Mark Bartholomeuz
11 Cameron Shepherd
12 Sam Harris
13 Ryan Cross
14 Dane Haylett-Petty
15 James O'Connor

16 Ben Whittaker
17 Tim Faiairbrother
18 Richard Stanford
19 Ben McCalman
20 Chris O'Young
21 Mitch Inman
22 Joshua Tatupu

[Hoolly Doolly]

Front row looks the goods. i hope they make guy shepherdson crumble in the scrum contest. I remember him being a cocky wanker last year when the brumby pack dominated a injury weakened force pack.......and they still lost! hahahha
CARN FORCE!!!

[Burgs]

Beautifully presented Boss

Interesting Fairbrother to the bench (especially for my bloody F Team )
Also, no Tom. Injury or out of favour? If not injury, unless he has lost a heap of form then it hopefully means the other two are absolutely blowing a boiler!
No note for Crossy so can only assume fully fit.
Also on Hooker, is it that Whittaker is still carrying an injury or that in two weeks, plus a little Wallabies time, Pekker is already the first pick? I guess he would be apart from the scrum and lineout anyway, maybe a balanced selection.
This is a good solid selection despite the recent loss of Andre, they are a team that can upset the individuals.

[mudskipper]

Solid pack with 3 props Nick Henderson is always sound. Also nice to see Dunning back playing super rugby and Pek will do a good job AUS needs another solid hooker for the RWC... & good to see Crossy ready to go... His match up with Mortlock will be great... Mitch Inman is a player with plenty of promise good to see him win a spot in the 22... and great to see young DHP in the starting 15 congrats.

I can't wait... game one at the MES...

[SleazyWineBaas]

Fairbrother will be a bit dirty. He scrummed very well last week
Dunning is rather large at the moment. Fairbrother should get plenty of time in the second half based on Perth temperatures at the moment. A solid team. lets get it on

[Burgs]

With heat, I would imagine that Dunny will be subbed off around 50 and then have to replace an "injured" Henderson around 65

[GIGS20]

That front row is awesome. Re Pekka getting the hook, I'd suggest it's in response to Moore being the guy for the Brums. Strong scrummager and solid around the park, Whits might be just a tad too light for him.

The Lineout is likely to be a bit of a lottery with those two throwing, but I reckon with Wykesey jumping and Sharpie calling we have the edge over Goog and Chis anyway.

Backline looks solid without being spectacular, JOC and Ryan and Shep will have to shoulder a lot of responsibility, but I reckon they're up to it. Go forward footy will be the KPI for this game, if our pack fails, we lose.......and vice versa

[SleazyWineBaas]

With heat, I would imagine that Dunny will be subbed off around 50 and then have to replace an "injured" Henderson around 65

Right on the money big fella

[GIGS20]

replace an "injured" Henderson around 65

Poor Nick, still groggy from that sickening swinging arm last week.........delayed onset of course.

The fi Dunning does ACTUALLY get hurt, his fug will miraculously disappear!

[palitu]

Poor Nick, still groggy from that sickening swinging arm last week.........delayed onset of course.

The fi Dunning does ACTUALLY get hurt, his fug will miraculously disappear!

eh???

[todd4]

I am surprised Tom Hocking did not make the 22. Does anyone know if he is injured?...

[Burgs]

Could be Gigs, he is 3kg heavier than Whittaker (116 v 113) however Moore is lighter again at 112 and Edmonds is the runt at 103.

Interesting our Frontrow is down 3kg overall 348 v 351.
The breakdown overall is
FR 348 v 351
SR 222 v 228
BR 307 v 311
Sc 877 v 890 = Force down by 13kg, though should end the match with a significant weight advantage.

By carrying so many lightweight running type Forwards (#4, 6, 7, 8) we will need quicker ball than average teams and will be very reliant on the scavanging of the Backrow to achieve this. Pull it off and we are in for a good result, allow ourselves to get dominated into a grinding style then there could be worries.

In the lineout things don't especially improve on the stats.
Throwing: First timer in this position v Wallaby Hooker
Force v Brumbies jumping options:
#4 197 v 197
#5 200 v 201
#6 184 v 197
#7 184 v 180
#8 189 v 190

Expect a lot of Force ball to Sharpey and Brownie, with some to Wykes, and plenty of variation in the Brumby calls.

[mudskipper]

I thought they'd be throwing up Hodgo the dwarf come line out time.

[prop53]

I like the look of the team for the first game, lets see how it goes before any comments?.

[Lee Grant]

It's great for Oz rugby to see Cowan starting at hooker. If he can hold his position he will ipso facto be a 3rd valid Wallaby candidate for the 2 jersey.

How much trial time has Dunning had - and how much Fairbrother? I don't know but am mildly surprised that Tuckie is starting.

Keep an eye on Henderson against his good mate Shepherdson in the scrums. I don't rate him as a scrummaging LHP - not that Sheppie got a lot of joy against Benn Robinson last Thursday night at Viking Park.

Surprised that Sammy got the start over Hockings for the 2nd row but Tom may be injured FAIK. That is a non-physical 2nd row in the contests - that is if they compete enough to be assessed. Sometimes I think that selectors forget that half the game is played without the ball.

The backrow was the most effective of the Oz teams last year although they don't carry a lot of weight. They will have to maintain that attribute this year.

Sheehan played well on Friday night and deserves his spot ahead of O'Young though COY ran rings around him at Rat Park last season playing for Eastwood.

Bartho and Harris are hardly the dynamic duo and Crossy is not exactly X-Man. I would have played JOC at 12, Sare on the wing if he is healthy and the good Shepherd at fullback.

Good to see DHP getting a start: he had a good club season in Sydney and I hope he makes every post a winner until Cummins comes back. Hopefully sometime, some year, we will see him at fullback where I first saw him as a schools player, just to see if he can do what he did there when he was younger.