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Emirates Western Force Coach John Mitchell has named a 26-strong squad for a 13-day tour of South Africa for matches against the Bulls and Stormers.
The WA side will open their tour against the second-placed Bulls at Loftus Versfeld this Saturday night (11.05pm WST), in what will be the club’s 50th Investec Super 14 match since entering the competition in 2006.
From there the team will converge on Cape Town to play the twelfth-placed Stormers in a Week 13 clash at Newlands Stadium.
The squad will depart Perth in two groups tonight (Tuesday) and tomorrow night and will be based in Pretoria until Sunday, before flying to Cape Town where they will spend the entire week preparing for the Stormers clash.
The squad will return to Perth on Tuesday 12 May, ahead of the final round clash with Highlanders at Subiaco Oval on Saturday 16 May.
Mitchell said his side faces a stern challenge in its pursuit of a first ever Super 14 finals appearance.
“We’ve got two very difficult games in South Africa, starting with the Bulls at altitude and then on to one of the best rugby venues in the world to play the Stormers,” he said.
“The Bulls are always a very difficult proposition at this time of year and always get strong support at home. They love the big occasion and we are fully aware of the challenge they present us,” he said.
“Then we’ve got the Stormers who would have been boosted by their win last week and will be looking forward to getting home after a long tour and finishing strongly.”
“For us it’s simple. It’s very much a must win scenario from now on (to make the finals). I’ve enjoyed watching the boys play some good rugby over the past few weeks but we need to continue to be attack-focussed and continue with the same approach we’ve taken into those games.”
“We’ve given ourselves a chance, and a number of teams are in the same position. We just have to make the most of our opportunity.”
26-man Emirates Western Force South Africa tour squad
Richard Brown, Ben Castle, Pek Cowan, Ryan Cross, Matt Giteau, Gareth Hardy, Dane Haylett-Petty, Tom Hockings, Matt Hodgson, Tamaiti Horua, Tai McIsaac, Drew Mitchell, James O’Connor, Chris O’Young, Junior Pelesasa, David Pocock, Haig Sare, Nathan Sharpe (c), Cameron Shepherd, Richard Stanford, Scott Staniforth, Josh Tatupu, Josh Valentine, AJ Whalley, Ben Whittaker, Sam Wykes.
Unavailable due to injury: Nick Cummins