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Emirates Western Force Coach John Mitchell has named a 26-strong squad for a 19-day tour of South Africa to kick start his team’s 2008 Investec Super 14 campaign.
The Perth-based side will open their season against last year’s finalists, the Sharks, at the imposing ABSA Stadium this Friday night before meeting the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein and the Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
The team will be based in Durban for the bulk of the tour, preferring to fly into Bloemfontein and Johannesburg the day before the match for their Week 2 and Week 3 encounters.
The squad will depart for the Republic at 12.40pm tomorrow (Tuesday) and returns to Perth on Sunday 2 March.
26-man Emirates Western Force South Africa tour squad
Richard Brown, Pek Cowan, Ryan Cross, Nick Cummins, Scott Daruda, Scott Fava, Matt Giteau (vc), Gareth Hardy, Matt Henjak, Tom Hockings, Matt Hodgson, Luke Holmes, Lachlan MacKay, Tai McIsaac, Drew Mitchell, David Pocock, David Pusey, Haig Sare, Nathan Sharpe (c), Cameron Shepherd, Scott Staniforth, James Stannard, Troy Takiari, Sitaleki Timani, AJ Whalley, Sam Wykes.
Good luck lads & bring us back 3 victories please!
CHEERLEADERS ROCK!!!
Go Lachie! We want 3 wins and NO injuries!!
It is easy to see why everybody loves the Force, not just because they are regular providers of points for opponents but because they are such a calm,. committed, thoughtful team that has played rugby of a high quality, lacking just an injection of brilliance - which their new signings for next year may well give them. Imagine a Matt Giteau and a Drew Mitchell in Durban in warm Friday night and the Brumbies would have been playing Pegasus and flying off to Christchurch.
Substitutions can do good things. Bringing on BJ Botha did good things for the Sharks whose pack was coming apart at the seams as the effect of the losses of Johan Ackermann and AJ Venter were more and more felt.
The inclusion of JP Pietersen for brilliant Brent Russell was a mystery, but at least one that could be lived with for Petersen had his own brilliance. But then it need not have been Pietersen for Russell.
The inclusion of Adrian Jacobs was certainly not a success as every touch of his had the opposite effect of Midas's.
Probably the worst aspect of the Sharks' play was their discipline. In the second half the penalties flowed 11-1 against them. They could well have deserved greater sanctions from the referee, especially as many of the penalties were incurred within reach of their line. They looked like a team bent on suicide.
Hats off to the Sharks for overcoming the absence of Ruan Pienaar, Tony Brown, AJ Venter and Johan Ackermann. And hats off to the Force who refused to say die. It made for much enjoyment in Durban and pleased the large crowd by giving them the result they craved.
The Sharks started doing their job early and had opportunities enough to have finished the job half way through the match. But they made mistakes, as people tend to do, but they also lost two hard, experienced men in AJ Venter and Johan Ackermann. They were both gone inside a quarter of an hour. But still they had chances.
One was at a five-metre line-out but they could not control it. One was at a five-metre scrum but they were shoved to bits. Instead they gave away a try when they followed a lost line-out with a penalty. The Force tapped, charged through Scott Fava and then went wide left where Digby Ioane scored.
Other than that the Force did not come close.
The Sharks not only came close but actually scored four tries, the third as good as any. They did get over for a fourth when Scott Mathie darted over from close in, but the referee did not allow the try, saying: "I got in the road. I obstructed the tackler." Which may not be anything contained in law however kind it may be.
The Sharks' first try came before three minutes had been played as a penalty became a maul which they shunted at speed down the field. They had a bash and on advantage played the ball wide to their left where right-wing Odwa Ndungane had an easy job of scoring. Montgomery converted.
When Warren Brits got his timing slightly wrong and was penalised for an early tackle, Cameron Shepherd made it 7-3. Then, Digby Ioane's try apart, the Sharks took over, zooming about the field with energy and confidence.
They played to the back of a line-out, but then played it to the middle where Jacques Botes went racing through. Opponents and support were left behind but eventually support arrived. On advantage the Sharks went right where Brent Russell passed to Ndungane. The pass was behind the big wing but he managed to gather it in and dot down neatly in the corner, whence Montgomery converted.
Then came the great try, as the Sharks started inside their own 22 on their right and passed with skill and confidence - a line of ball going down their backline to Brent Russell who destroyed Josh Graham with his dodging feet and set him running. He gave to Botes who cut between two Force players and homed in on the posts, where Montgomery again converted. 22-3 after 21 minutes.
The Sharks came back on the attack and had a six-metre line-out but the Force sacked Johann Muller and then the Sharks were guilty of doing a truck-'n-trailer, to bring relief to the besieged Force.
It was after this that the Force got their try and Montgomery added another penalty.
By this stage the Force were already outscrumming the Sharks.
In the second half the Force had four five-metre line-outs and a five-metre scrum, which is some indication of the effect of penalties conceded by the Sharks. At one stage early in the second half the sequence of events was:
Penalty to the Force, maul, penalty to the Force, line-out five metres, maul knock-on by the Force, scrum to the Sharks, penalty to the Force five-metre line-out, maul.
It is no wonder that at this stage Scott Fava had the ball when they plunged over the line. This time Cameron Shepherd, whose boot was often errant, converted.
The Sharks, as if galvanised, attacked after this but a skip pass by Botes nullified a double over-lap and the Force survived the immediate threat. They were penalised there and from the ensuing five-metre line-out the Sharks got a successful maul working and Brits scored the bonus point try.
Now it was all about winning by ten points or more. There were 28 minutes to play. Sharks' supporters would have liked the final siren just then.
They would have liked it all the more as the drama of the last minutes unfolded. But not before a bit of Pietersen magic.
The Force had by far the better of the half and especially these last 12 minutes but for one bit of horror.
Far on the left Matt Henjak kicked a low kick across the field into the Sharks' 22. Pietersen was there. He gathered and started running. He kicked high. The ball bounced generously and there was Pietersen effortlessly outsprinting the Force for a smiling try. That brought the score to 41-15 with 20 minutes to play.
The penalties came thick and fast against the Sharks and kept the Force attacking. The Sharks kept ramming fingers into the dyke and it was to their credit that the score stayed 41-15 till there were just eight minutes to play.
In fact they could have scored and would have when they broke from their own line had Jacobs not held on with Pietersen and his lightning free on his left.
Instead after penalties, including a warning about contempt for the 10-metre concession at a penalty, and line-outs kept the Force hammering at the Sharks' line till Shepherd stepped inside Jacobs for a little dart to score. 41-20.
Three minutes later Lachlan MacKay chipped ahead. The ball ricocheted off Jacobs and into the welcoming arms of Shepherd who gleefully scored his second try. 41-25 with five minutes to play.
The Sharks survived till Ioane knocked on and Pietersen kicked the ball into a grateful stand.
Man of the match: For the Force there were Scott Fava and Nathan Sharpe and their front-row trio of David Fitter, Tai McIsaac and Angus Scott. Brent Russell was off for a lot of the match but was brilliant while he was there. Johan Muller and Warren Brits were heroic and so was our Man of the Match, flank Jacques Botes whose season has been one of great progress.
The scorers:
For the Sharks:
Tries: Ndungane 2, Botes, Britz, Pietersen
Cons: Montgomery 5
Pens: Montgomery 2
For the Western Force:
Tries: Ioane, Fava, Shepherd 2
Con: Shepherd
Pen: Shepherd
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Rugby365
The Western Force came of age with a gritty 22-12 win over the Sharks in their Investec Super 14 match at Subiaco Oval on Friday night.
Man of the match, inside centre Matt Giteau, set up the only try of the game cutting the defence to ribbons with an electric run before offloading to wing Cameron Shepherd midway through the first half to give his side a 13-6 lead at half-time.
The Sharks didn't lie down and came within one point early in the second half when fullback Francois Steyn landed a spectacular 54-metre drop goal.
But the Force re-gathered momentum when the match game was balanced on a knife edge through blanket defence that forced the Sharks into debilitating errors and a game plan of often wayward kicking and ill discipline that saw them finish with a 13-man team after two late yellow cards.
Giteau, who took over the goal-kicking duties due to Shepherd's carrying a minor knee into the game, kicked the home side clear for the historic win that sees them catapult the South African team into second place on the Super 14 ladder.
The Sharks went into the game ranked second in the competition and dominated the scrum, battering the Force with take-no-prisoners defence. They were dominant early with high possession and a strategic kicking game but errors and a steady Force defence held them out.
In the sixth minute, the Sharks were penalised for not releasing and Giteau slotted a 40-metre goal from the middle of the pitch.
The Force lit up with a series of attacking phases but the Sharks' punishing defence knocked them back until 14 minutes in when the visitors conceded a penalty for offside. Giteau converted the 25-metre chance on an angle and the Force led 6-0.
The Sharks had a chance to catch up with a penalty shot for offside but Pienaar missed by centimetres after 21 minutes, and again nine minutes later when awarded a scrum penalty for incorrect binding.
The Force struck back immediately when Giteau carved up the defence up the middle and handed on to Shepherd to score beside the posts. Giteau added the extras with a simple goal kick and the Force leapt ahead 11-0.
In reply, Pienaar was successful with his third penalty kick when a Force player joined a ruck from the side with two minutes to play and added a second on half time when the Force were penalised for collapsing a rolling maul.
The Sharks drew close at 13-9 three minutes into the second spell when NZ referee Lyndon Bray ruled a marginal late tackle on Sharks wing JP Pietersen and Pienaar slotted the 30-metre kick on an angle.
Young Sharks fullback Francois Steyn settled a kicking duel four minutes later when he landed a huge 54-metre drop goal to bring the game back to one point at 13-12.
The kick fest continued with the Force hard on attack, Giteau missing a 35-metre penalty goal for offside after 12 minutes. The Sharks gave them a helping hand with a penalty for not binding correctly two minutes later and then moved it 10 metres closer with some unwanted advice to the referee, Giteau gladly accepting the gift.
The second half continued with kicks aplenty from both sides, little of it decisive, and more penalties as the game lost its rythym and neither side made headway.
Giteau added a 42-metre penalty for a dangerous tackle and the Force went ahead 19-12 after 23 minutes of the second spell.
Another penalty for yet another offside saw Giteau slot another goal and Sharks flanker Warren Britz leave the field with a yellow card with 11 minutes on the clock and what looked like a match-winning lead at 22-12 with a one-man advantage.
The Force threw everything at the Sharks in the closing stages and the visitors were reduced to professional fouls in response, reserve back Rory Kockett joining Britz on the sideline.
Giteau bounced the penalty kick off the posts but the Force stayed hard on attack until a relieving penalty moved the Sharks downfield to finish the game with desperate hammering of the Force line in search of a bonus point, but without success.
Force 22
Tries: Shepherd
Conversions: Giteau
Penalties: Giteau 5
Sharks 12
Penalties: Pienaar 3
Drop goals: Steyn
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Rick Boyd
Are Pelesasa and/or Hilgendorf injured or just not included in the 26?
Both injured...
Is Hilgendorf due back this season? Junior's gone for the year isn't he?
Go get em boys!!
Cya when you come back and beat the saders![]()
Well friday night looks like it'll be more of the same, We certainly look a better team than last year and the Sharks look a bit weaker. Interesting to look at the 2006 game and see that our 2006 pack pushed theirs around so much. I think our pack has a lot more quality about it at the moment, but not necessarily concentrated in the scrummaging department. That'll certainly be the interesting battle of the night.
Sharks have always had a bit of a problem with discipline, and that has shown itself in our previous encounters. I hope the trend continues, because I see this as the one uncertain victory of the tour. I've also heard Mitch and Sharpie hedge their bets by calling for two out of three on this tour. I'd say they expect this to be the tough game as well.
I think with a fit, full selection list to start the year, and a couple of big names out of the Sharks squad, we've got the goods, Just hope they lose their discipline again, because it's always nicer to win easy (particularly with Lachie on tour)
C'mon the![]()
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Can't wait to watch the game. I've hassled Foxtel to get the installation guys down before the Force seasons starts and they finally booked me in on Friday morning. Woohoo! I hope Lachlan gets some time on the field and maybe even score a couple of tries, without getting injured. And also our pack outgunning the south africans pack. Fingers crossed, boys.
here we go again, all the best to the boys in S.A......
good luck fellas!