Draw made Michael Foley split forces

[travelling_gerry]

Draw made Michael Foley split forces
BY:WAYNE SMITH From: The Australian June 04, 2013 12:00AM


THE Western Force is intending to make life "bloody hard" for the British and Irish Lions tomorrow night at Subiaco Oval, but had pure rugby considerations dictated the Lions' itinerary, the Perth side could have made it even harder.

Coach Michael Foley, faced with a schedule that requires his side to meet the tourists tomorrow night before backing up against the Waratahs on Sunday, has little alternative but to split his forces. Half of his regular top side will confront the Lions, the other half the Waratahs and filling in around them will be a host of kids unknown even to the most dedicated of Super Rugby watchers.

Judging from the two sides that ran at training yesterday in front of 300 loyal fans, Test players Hugh McMeniman, Pek Cowan and Alby Mathewson, along with exciting young Wallaby-in-the-making Kyle Godwin and goalkicking playmaker Sias Ebershon, all are being held back to ensure they start fresh against the Waratahs.

Admittedly, Foley does have an impish sense of humour and despite his grinning protestations of innocence, yesterday's open training session might all have been a huge ruse, with the Force secretly preparing to unleash its full-strength side against the Lions. Unlikely, but possible.

Yet all too easily that could have been arranged, to the benefit of both the Force and the Lions.

The Force had its bye last weekend and, as Foley acknowledged yesterday, would more than happily have pitted its strongest-possible team against the tourists had the Lions opened their tour in Perth and not, as it transpired, in Hong Kong.

Still, depleted or not, the Force is going into tomorrow's clash with high ambitions to aid the national cause.

Halfback Brett Sheehan, one of five players in the likely Force side with Test experience, said he wanted the Lions' first experience in Australia to be "bloody hard".

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spor...-1226656514801

[Alison]

Had the Lions' sponsor not been HSBC, the tour would have started in Perth. The HK game was a junket for HSBC clients and had nothing to do with rugby imo.

Had the Tahs rather than the Force been first on the Lions' Aus schedule, I imagine the ARU would have had more to say.

Money talks.

[GAFFA]

the west reprting the Force backline will be

9 Sheehan
10 SNK
11 DHP
12 CTM
13 Stubbs
14 Cory Brown
15 Sam Christi

[Muddly]

the west reprting the Force backline will be

9 Sheehan
10 SNK
11 DHP
12 CTM
13 Stubbs
14 Cory Brown
15 Sam Christi

Spot on from what the boy's said yesterday at training.

[palitu]

Dane is still with the Force???

[Muddly]

Dane is flighing in for the Lions game (so they are saying). It also sounds like a trial for him to see if he will be back next year.

[Sheikh]

That's not a bad back-line - some experience at 9 & 10 with youth and speed outside them.

We're still gonna get tonked in the forwards, though. This might make the scrums from the last England match at Subi (2010) look competitive - the one where England got 2 penalty tries!

[GAFFA]

He has been back for weeks. He got a release from his french contract for family reasons so lookis like he has linked up again with the Force can only be a good thing.

[valzc]

Interesting analysis by Scott Allen on GAGR about Lions likely attack plan - will probably be akin to usual Wales tactics seeing as much of the team is Welsh, and keeping it simple for a team with little time playing together.

[The InnFORCEr]

And the forwards appeared to be

1 Mafu
2 Hilterbrand
3 Manu
4 Toby
5 Battye
6 McCaffrey
7 Hodgson
8 Brown

the west reprting the Force backline will be

9 Sheehan
10 SNK
11 DHP
12 CTM
13 Stubbs
14 Cory Brown
15 Sam Christi

[PeterM]

All I hope for tommorow night is the Force boys who take the field really put in a shift and give a good account of themselves. The match will be telecast across the nation and internationally also I want to see them make people from inter state and over seas sit up and take notice and see that we have a good rugby team here and we as WA people are every bit as passionate and knowledgeable about our rugby as anyone else from any other state in this country

[Gruffalo]

Good opportunity For some fringe players to impress. Sheehan and SNK plenty experience to guide the team around the park. Backs a worry as no time to build up combos and defensive structure.
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[GIGS20]

I've gotta say, for a B grade team, it's not too shabby. Sure there are better options in many positions, but the 'better option' is generally not better by a whole bunch, and some of the options are arguably better here than will play the tahs.

Manu vs Kieran would be a case in point. Manu looked pretty bloody sharp when he did take the field and some would argue there's nothing in that one, SNK at 10 over Sias, there will be many who would take SNK 9 times out of ten!

Sure they won't have the time to gel, and there will be some holes here and there, where a EPS man is covering for a genuine walk up start, but in general, it's not a bad fist of a shitty situation.


We'll still be rogered though!

[Stone Cold]

I don't mind our front row. Manu and Maafu are both decent scrummagers (haven't seen enough of hilterbrand yet). We may even be able to hold a couple of scrums to a tie...

I would have loved to see Cowan, Charles and Longbottom have a crack at the Lions scrum. Ah well...