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PERTH SPIRIT MEDIA ALERT
Thursday, 27 August 2015
FAULKNER, GODWIN BACK FOR SPIRIT’S FIRST HOME MATCH
Marquee players Kyle Godwin and Tetera Faulkner will make their first appearance for the Perth Spirit in the team’s first home match of the 2015 Buildcorp National Rugby Championship (NRC) against the North Harbour Rays at McGilivray Oval on Saturday.
Click here to watch Head Coach Tai McIsaac announce his team: http://bit.ly/1WTKe7n
The Spirit will look to make McGillivray Oval a fortress this season after winning two of their three home fixtures in Perth in 2014, as they look to ‘fill the hill’ against the Rays.
Godwin’s return at inside centre is one of six changes to the starting line-up to face the Rays while Faulkner, who is a member of the Wallabies’ Rugby World Cup train-on squad, will start off the bench.
In the front row, Tessmann will again captain the side after a standout performance against Brisbane City, and will pack down alongside Francois Van Wyk (UWA) and Nedlands’ premiership-winning tighthead prop Jermaine Ainsley, who both make their way into the run-on XV after impressing off the bench last week.
UWA’s Richard Hardwick will start at openside flanker on his home track, replacing fellow Future Force scholarship holder Kane Koteka, who has succumbed to a quad strain.
Davis Tavita will start at flyhalf in place of the injured Luke Burton (broken nose). Tavita’s call-up comes after an impressive showing in Nedlands’ Pindan Premier Grade grand final triumph last weekend in his first match back from an ankle injury.
Joondalup Brothers midfielder Maalonga Koneilo retains his spot after a solid showing in his Buildcorp NRC debut last week and will return to his favoured outside centre position and team up with Godwin.
2015 PG Hampshire Award winner, Daley Harper will again start from the bench providing coverage across the backline, while Kalamunda teammate and Western Australian Under 20 back-rower, Auega Seumanutafa will look to make his debut off the bench.
Current Hale Schoolboy and fellow WA Under 20 representative, Nicholas Jooste is set to make his Perth Spirit debut at just 18 years of age, while Nedlands’ premiership-winning hooker Anaru Rangi is also in line for his first appearance in the tournament.
McIssac says the team is looking forward to playing in front of their home crowd for the first time this season.
“The whole group is very excited to be playing in front of our home crowd on the hill this weekend,” he said.
“It’s great to have Kyle and Tet back for this week, who will bring further experience and class to our side.
“We took a lot out of last week’s match and, given the pace of the game, it’s important that we’re working hard off the ball to enable us to play the game we want to play.
“There were a number of very promising performances last week, and it was great to see guys like Francois Van Wyk and Jermaine Ainsley providing such an impact off the bench, and they’ve been rewarded with a starting role this weekend.
“Similarly, it’s exciting for a number of our rising young stars in Auega and Joostey to get their first taste at this level, and their performances this season at their club and representative levels should give them a lot of confidence ahead of this weekend’s match.”
Season Tickets for the 2015 Perth Spirit season are on sale now! Click here to get tickets to all four home games for the price of three: http://bit.ly/1L3dBQL
2015 Buildcorp National Rugby Championship – Week Two
Perth Spirit v North Harbour Rays
Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane
Saturday, 29 August 2015
Kick-off: 3.30pm (AWST)
1. Francois van Wyk UWA
2. Heath Tessman (c) Nedlands
3. Jermaine Ainsley Nedlands
4. Rory Walton Wests Scarborough
5. Ross Haylett-Petty Cottesloe
6. Chris Alcock UWA
7. Richard Hardwick UWA
8. Angus Cottrell Associates
9. Ryan Louwrens Cottesloe
10. Davis Tavita Nedlands
11. Brad Lacey Wests Scarborough
12. Kyle Godwin Associates
13. Maalonga Konelio Joondalup
14. Sevuloni Mocenacagi
15. Albert Nikoro Wests Scarborough
Reserves
16. Anaru Rangi Nedlands
17. Chris Heiberg Perth Bayswater
18. Tetera Faulkner Wanneroo
19. Riley Winter Wests Scarborough
20. Auega Seumanutafa Kalamunda
21. Ian Prior Nedlands
22. Nicholas Jooste Hale School/Cottesloe
23. Daley Harper Kalamunda
80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?
Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!
Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!
I can't believe that possibly nine of these players will have played Thursday, Sunday, Saturday all in the one week and some of them will have nursed hangovers as well. What happened to player welfare
80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?
Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!
Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!
9? My count is 2.. Ainsley and Winter
A few more with hangovers I'd dare say haha
hangover?Originally Posted by The InnFORCEr
I can't believe that possibly nine of these players will have played Thursday, Sunday, Saturday all in the one week and some of them will have nursed hangovers as well. What happened to player welfare
never played without one!
I thought they were compulsory
great to see so many club players in the side.
Someone somewhere must be doing something right!
This kind of sums up my impression of things with rugby in WA.(not being involved and living hours away) Some posters tell us how things are getting worse etc, yet looking at the results of WA teams and local players getting selected for higher level teams and graduating to super rugby, things seem to be improving. It can't all be bad, maybe it could be better but it hardly seems as if the sky is falling.
Ollie Hoskins appears dropped, couple of years ago he seemed to be promising. It will be interesting to see what happens from here for him.
Attachment 4029
Yeah... How'd your longevity end up doing that? Is this the start of the "brokendown" we all know you by?
in a perverse kind of way even that has it's positive side. Ollie has had a good chance to show his wares and meet the standard. Now I love the guy, he's enthusiastic and committed to WA rugby 100%, but he's not meeting the standard at the moment. and he's not getting selected. I only hope that he's being given the support he needs to improve his game (particularly his scrummaging) and then get selected again in the future.
The only complaint anybody can have with that is the oft-sung lament that player X Y and Z at my club is better than whoever is currently being selected, and there is a certain amount of subjectivity to many of those calls.
At least he was given a crack, evaluated over a period of time and a judgement was made.
C'mon the
I agree with what you wrote. He has been given his chance to show what he is capable of. I would love to think that he will man up, work his arse off and earn his place in the Spirit team and the Force. It took Keiran Longbottom many years to become the prop I wish we still had.
It just seems that all our young talent are kind of shakey in their development at the moment. Early flashes of brilliance, then a period of hard grind makes me wonder gee were they right about him? Makes me wonder why?
How is longbottom getting on up there? England call up?
Not even in the running I don't think. Certainly haven't seen his name at all.
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby
If he hadn't been injured he'd have been in the running - he was rated as the best tighthead in the first month of the season (although this might have been due to him being an unknown). Then he got injured for most of the year and only came back for the last 2-3 games and Kieran has always seemed to need a few games under his belt to get the best out of him.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon
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