Charles starts, Henderson in for Force

[chiraag]

Young on-loan hooker Nathan Charles gets his first Super 14 start in the Western Force run-on side against the Blues in Auckland on Saturday.

Charles, 21, who is on a short-term deal from the ACT Brumbies academy, will be hoping to make an impression in a bid to extend his contract into next season.

He replaces another young rake Ben Whittaker, 20, who moves to the bench, where Charles started in the wins against the Stormers at ME Bank Stadium and the Highlanders in Queenstown last Saturday.

Force head coach John Mitchell has made only one other change to the starting side, naming loosehead prop Nic Henderson to replace Pek Cowan.

"We've put Nic Henderson into loosehead because Pek's had two games now and we've also promoted Nathan Charles to hooker to give him his first start," Mitchell said.

"He's been extremely impressive in his two outings off the bench.

"The backline doesn't change."

That means the hard running pair of Ryan Cross and Mitch Inman, who hurt the Highlanders in midfield with their direct running, will start again with teenager James O'Connor at fullback.

The only other change is to the bench line-up, where winger Nick Cummins, back from a two-game suspension for a dangerous tackle in the Stormers drought-breaking victory, replaces Dane Haylett-Petty.

The Blues, who are coming off a loss to the Stormers, have struggled to find form this season but Mitchell said: "We expect them to be ferocious.

"If you go back to the Bulls performance (two weeks ago), they hurt them, they came out firing and put them away

"We're expecting that kind of onslaught on the weekend."

Force starting XV: 1. Nic Henderson, 2. Nathan Charles, 3. Tim Fairbrother, 4. Tom Hockings, 5. Nathan Sharpe (c ), 6. Matt Hodgson, 7. David Pocock, 8. Richard Brown, 9. Chris O'Young, 10. David Hill, 11, Mark Bartholomeusz, 12. Ryan Cross, 13. Mitch Inman, 14. Cameron Shepherd, 15. James O'Connor.

Reserves: 16. Ben Whittaker, 17. Matt Dunning, 18. Ben McCalman, 19. Sam Wykes, 20. Justin Turner, 21. Sam Harris, 22. Nick Cummins.

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Interesting choice starting cullet on the bench and Pek out of the 22 altogether. I guess we have enough quality front row personnel to allow for rotation. Hopefullt cullet can come on in the second half and make a big impact

[WF1964]

Would Pek be in trouble because of the altercation?

[travelling_gerry]

Nah. The rotation of Henderson was predicted before they even went to NZ.

[GIGS20]

I'd think it's more about freshness, and the hope that Nicky has built up sufficient aggression in his break to tear somebody apart in the first 5 minutes.

Pekka hasn't shown any tendency to blow up, I'd suggest it was more reaction than brain snap.

I'm more interested by the Charles/Whittaker swap, there must be a good reason for giving Nat his first start since I thought they were pretty similar against the 'Landers.....maybe there's something Mitch has seen, maybe it's a contracting deal.

Having Charles, Whits and Tyrrel on the list for next year would be pretty healthy!

[palitu]

Alright, i still reckon we'll have em, just look at my bet

[BeeJay]

not a bad outfit. i expect Whittaker to get a lot of game time. we need Dunning to be really fired up when he comes on.

[GIGS20]

not a bad outfit. i expect Whittaker to get a lot of game time. we need Dunning to be really fired up when he comes on.

Tell him there's donuts in the ball!

[BDAVEY]

I would say Cummins will get a good run after 1/2 time batho stopping Rockocoko / Ranger and Macalister i would like to see that... Blues have an awesome ouside backline i fhtey fire!!.... just need to get some early point on them the Pacific Islanders not good at catch up footy.