Lance injury blow adds to Force frustration

[wholetruth]

NOOOoooo


Nick Taylor

March 11, 2016, 1:09 pm

UPDATE: Western Force have been dealt a massive injury blow on the eve of their tough three-match tour of New Zealand with star playmaker Jono Lance ruled out for several weeks.
Lance, the stand-out player in the Force's opening three Super Rugby matches, tore a pectoral muscle in the second half of the 31-14 loss to the Brumbies at nib Stadium on Friday night.
He is the second fly-half lost to the Force this season with Luke Burton already ruled out for several weeks after having pre-season ankle surgery.
Lance's loss will mean a major reshuffle in the key halves roles as they prepare for the Hurricanes, Chiefs and Highlanders.
Former Springbok Peter Grant will take the No.10 spot after sitting on the bench for the first three games.
Regular scrum-half Ian Prior, who has played fly-half and trained in the role in pre-season, will be the reserve playmaker while young Ryan Louwrens will travel as Prior's back up at scrum-half.
Meanwhile Brumbies captain and hooker Stephen Moore has escaped any penalty after Super Rugby governing body SANZAAR did not bring a citing for what appeared to be a shoulder charge on his Force opposite number Heath Tessmann in the opening minutes of Friday's clash.

More here
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...e-frustration/

[Alison]

That's very very rotten luck 😤

[GIGS20]

"appeared to be a shoulder charge"

I would have gone with "blatantly and recklessly charged into a ruck without arms" and possibly "Stephen Moore appears to be a protected species in the wake of a shameless and brutal bully fest which was encouraged by Referee Andrew Lees and supported by the SANZAR citing commissioner"

but I might be a little biased.

[shasta]

Notice his tactic of getting in between the referee and the opposing skipper when he wants to question something, even shoving the other bloke away at times?
IIRC he did it in the gold jersey last year too. Smart moves really if you can get away with it.

[jono]

Notice his tactic of getting in between the referee and the opposing skipper when he wants to question something, even shoving the other bloke away at times?
IIRC he did it in the gold jersey last year too. Smart moves really if you can get away with it.

Mcaw book of influencing referees - get in Sir's head first and set up camp

[Emu]

Some thoughts on short term replacements for Jono Lance besides Ian Prior. From last year's NRC well is pretty dry. Sam Lane, Hamish Angus, Angus Roberts, Rodney Iona or Isaac Thompson. Locally is Davis Tavita still avail or your recent current Under 20.

[jono]

Or you know... Grant at 10. Prior as reserve flyhalf. Alby starts & louwrens onto the bench as per the article mentions.

[PerthGirl]

That's bad news, injuries to crucial positions are killing us at the moment

[chiraag]

Bad news, but looking forward to seeing Louwrens back in action. His quick service and dangerous sniping runs should work really well with our new style of play

[Sheikh]

Why Louwrens? With Lance hurt, Grant will start at 10, and Burton (if he's fit) will be on the bench. The scrum-half will still be between Prior and Alby. Not sure why we'd move our best performing 9 to play as a reserve 10

[Alison]

Don't think Burto will be ready until at least late April - he was still wearing a moon boot at the game on Friday. His fracture was quite bad by all accounts :-(

[agrugger]

Why Louwrens? With Lance hurt, Grant will start at 10, and Burton (if he's fit) will be on the bench. The scrum-half will still be between Prior and Alby. Not sure why we'd move our best performing 9 to play as a reserve 10

Completely agree. Just because Ian is the reserve 10, doesn't mean he can't be the starting 9. I will say that Alby did deliver the ball much quicker when he came in as reserve this match than he did the first 2. Hopefully the benching woke him up b/c his upside is higher than Ian's, but right now Ian is still playing at a higher level.

[G_Beard]

Reckon it was more of a case of, if Grant happened to go down, then Ian could play 10.
Not playing away from nine to start with.

[Buddha Handy]

How long is Godwin out? He can play 10 as well, plenty of cover. Time for Grant to prove he was worth the signing

[valzc]

I read somewhere that it was initially thought he'd be out for the rest of the season, but only looks like 4 weeks.