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THE Western Force yesterday enacted phase one of its master plan to retain teenage sensation James O'Connor by offering halfback Josh Valentine a new contract.
Phase two sounds even more exciting because it involves arguably the world's greatest rugby player, Dan Carter.
But before Force fans rush jubilantly into the streets of Perth to celebrate, it should be stressed the club is not attempting to recruit the All Blacks five-eighth.
Rather, the Force is closely monitoring which province Carter joins on his return from his rugby sabbatical with the French in Perpignan.
Almost certainly he will link again with the Crusaders -- in which case the Perth club would check out the availability of his understudy, Stephen Brett -- but in the event of Carter opting to follow his girlfriend, NZ hockey player Honor Dillon, to Auckland, the two players currently sharing the duties at 10 for the Blues, Jimmy Gopperth and Tasesa Lavea, would come on to the radar.
"It depends on what Carter does, but whichever province he joins he might push another good player out," Force high performance manager Mitch Hardy said.
Although rumours persist that O'Connor is poised to follow Matt Giteau to Canberra -- rumours that Brumbies chief executive Andrew Fagan denied yesterday -- Force officials are working overtime to retain him.
Now Drew Mitchell has confirmed he will play for the Waratahs next season, O'Connor, 18, has been offered his choice of either fullback or inside centre in 2010, but he is making no decisions, either on the position or the club, until the end of the Super 14 games to give the Force time to lock in a stellar replacement for Giteau at five-eighth.
The club has made approaches to some of the highest-profile five-eighths in world rugby in recent weeks, all to no avail.
Leicester-based Springboks number 10 Derick Hougaard knocked it back, as did All Blacks playmaker Nick Evans, now playing with Harlequins, while dual US World Cup five-eighth Mike Hercus -- now playing with the Sunshine Coast Stingrays in the QRU's Premier Rugby competition -- and Australian-born former Scotland five-eighth Dan Parks, dropped by Glasgow this week after he was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving, were considered but rejected.
Perhaps the most intriguing approach has been to former All Blacks maestro Carlos Spencer, 33, who announced this month he was only committed to Gloucester until the end of the British season -- despite the club announcing inFebruary he had signed on for 17months.
As far as Spencer is concerned, however, the deal was for five months only. "I've said to Gloucester, 'I just want to finish up the five months and see where it takes me'," Spencer told the British media recently. "I've got no plans. We'll just have to see what happens."
Although Spencer said his wife was "nagging" him every day that she wants to go home to New Zealand, the 35-Test veteran insists he is happy "cruising along".
Certainly, if he were to join the Western Force it would speak volumes for coach John Mitchell, because if there is one person Mitchell could blame for not getting the All Blacks coaching job it would be Spencer.
It was Spencer who threw the long pass that Stirling Mortlock intercepted to race away for the match-turning try in the 2003 World Cup semi-final against the Wallabies. The 22-10 defeat the All Blacks sustained that night sealed Mitchell's fate.
The offer of a one-year contract extension to Valentine is a deserved reward to the former Wallabies number nine after he outplayed all his rivals in the three Australian derbies this season.
But with the Force intent on reassuring O'Connor that he will have quality players inside him, Valentine will need to snap up the offer quickly or the club will refocus itsefforts on recruiting NSW halfback Brett Sheehan.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html