Mitchell dares Canes to target rookie

Mitchell dares Canes to target rookie
Wayne Smith | May 05, 2008 Mitchell dares Canes to target rookie | The Australian

WESTERN FORCE coach John Mitchell yesterday invited the Hurricanes to emulate the Chiefs' tactics of targeting sensation James O'Connor, 17, when the sides meet in Wellington on Friday night.

While O'Connor's run-on debut in the Force's dramatic last-minute win over the Chiefs at Subiaco Oval on Saturday earned rave reviews, it's doubtful that an identical performance from a 21-year-old would have generated nearly the same excitement.

It was the fact O'Connor, socks dragging Latham-like around his ankles, looked like he should have been lining up for the canteen rather than linking with Matt Giteau in the backline that made his game so dramatically eye-catching.

Certainly, Mitchell was measured in his assessment of the youngster's game.

"He did well and all credit to him," Mitchell said. "He's got a lot of maturity to handle this level of football. He genuinely can break a line and take on the opposition."

But even though O'Connor's courage and defensive capabilities are unquestioned, Mitchell deliberately shielded him from the Chiefs' heavyweight ball-runners by positioning him on the blind wing on the New Zealanders' ball.

"We thought they might target him, particularly from short lineouts using (Sione) Lauaki, (Tanerau) Latimer and (Liam) Messam to run straight at him."

Denied the chance to test O'Connor's front-on tackling, the Chiefs quickly altered their tactics to test his nerve, five-eighth Stephen Donald bombarding him with high balls pursued by rawboned wingers Lelia Masaga and Sitiveni Sivivatu.

Although O'Connor did spill one, the tactic backfired on the New Zealanders.

"All it did was give us possession and we don't mind that," said Mitchell, extending an invitation to the Hurricanes to carry out their own aerial examination of O'Connor's poise.

While Mitchell has made it clear he intends to use the Force's remaining matches against the Hurricanes and Brumbies to bed down the Giteau-O'Connor-Ryan Cross combination that promises so much, any doubts over O'Connor's retention in the starting side were removed when it became apparent on Saturday that Test inside centre Scott Staniforth's knee injury was more serious than first suspected.

Staniforth will have scans today but the expectation is he will require surgery.

And the injuries kept coming during the helter-skelter game, with winger Nick Cummins sustaining a season-ending broken leg and backrower Scott Fava succumbing to syndesmosis of the ankle. He, too, has almost certainly played his last match for the Force in 2008, while prop Pek Cowan is also facing a stint on the sideline with a dislocated thumb.

The high injury toll was hardly surprising considering the pace of the game. The Force jumped to an early 14-3 lead through a chargedown try to number eight Matt Hodgson and a determined touchdown by Drew Mitchell, only to be run down in the second half. Twice in the final 12 minutes the lead changed hands, with a Callum Bruce field goal four minutes from the end seemingly clinching victory for the Chiefs.

But from there play surged end to end, with the match reaching a dramatic climax as referee Marius Jonker asked the television match official to rule whether Force fullback Cameron Shepherd had committed a minuscule knock-on just before he dived over the line for what would have been the winning try and a bonus point to boot.

Technically, it was not a question Jonker should have asked, since the TV ref has the power only to rule on the grounding of the ball but when the word came that Shepherd had indeed knocked on, the referee then backtracked to an earlier penalty advantage to the Force.

It was all too much for Force skipper Nathan Sharpe who had to ask the referee what on earth was going on. When told his side had been awarded a full penalty, Sharpe suggested with a goofy grin that maybe a shot at goal might be in order. Up stepped Giteau who once again was equal to the moment.

When his kick sailed through the uprights, there was pandemonium in the Force coaches' box from everyone but Mitchell. In all the excitement, he had lost track of the score and had mistakenly thought Giteau's kick was for a draw, not the win.

"Maths was my strongest subject at school, but it let me down that time," Mitchell conceded.