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Emirates Western Force Coach John Mitchell has named his team to play last season’s Guinness Premiership finalists Leicester Tigers in the final match on the development tour of England.
Mitchell has re-shuffled his lineup dramatically after last week’s 22-3 defeat to Northampton, highlighted by several positional changes.
The Welford Road clash is expected to provide the toughest test of the tour for the WA side, who have returned two wins and two losses from their four matches in the UK.
A young front row will step out for the visitors including Pek Cowan (22), Luke Holmes (24) and Kieran Longbottom (22), while impressive Queensland club rugby recruit Filipe Manu has won a recall at Number 8.
Mitchell was disappointed with his team’s set-piece effort against the Saints last Saturday and has shifted experienced back rower Tamaiti Horua to lock to provide greater stability in the lineout.
There has also been significant movement in the backline with James O’Connor switching to fullback for Scott Daruda to return to flyhalf and dynamic running pair Junior Pelesasa and Josh Tatupu reinstated in the midfield.
Mitchell said his team would need to improve on its last outing in order to finish the tour with a positive win-loss ratio.
“Our set piece really let us down in the last match but it’s been a great experience for our front row in particular to come over here to England and experience the different conditions and the different types of pressure,” said Mitchell.
“At the end of the day we won’t be judging ourselves on results on this tour but by what we learned and how we adapted to different situations in games,” he said.
Mitchell said Saturday night’s (WST) opponents will be at full strength ahead of the start of the premiership proper next weekend.
“Leicester are one week out from competition so they will be using this match as an opportunity to look at combinations for the start of the season,” said Mitchell.
“You look at their side and they are loaded with England Internationals so it will be a good experience for our side coming up against a committed and full-strength opposition.”
The match kicks off at 10pm WST on Saturday night.
Emirates Western Force v Leicester Tigers
Saturday 30 August, 2008
Welford Road, Leicester, England.
Kick off: 3pm (10pm WST)
Emirates Western Force
1. Pek Cowan
2. Luke Holmes
3. Kieran Longbottom
4. Tamaiti Horua
5. Pat O’Connor
6. Matt Hodgson
7. David Pocock (c)
8. Filipe Manu
9. Chris O’Young
10. Scott Daruda
11. Haig Sare
12. Junior Pelesasa
13. Josh Tatupu
14. Dane Haylett-Petty
15. James O’Connor
Reserves
16. Tai McIsaac
17. AJ Whalley
18. Gareth Hardy
19. Brent Murphy
20. Justin Turner
21. Dion Berryman
22. Andrew Barrett
James O'Connor at fullback and Tamaiti Horua as Lock
Good luck, will be fantastic for next year's options if it works well!!
Yeah it's strange - cause I think of Daruda as fullback and JOC wants to be 12 to Gitts at 10.
Also GH, AJ and Tai on the bench ?????? would have thought that they were the stronger end of our forward pack - unless we have more injury concerns.
Wish em the best
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
mabye AJ put in the work to get back into the team?
i remember him starting at least the first match over there.
its a great team!
good luck to them!
BOKKE“Let me put it this way, A Springbok team contains Afrikaners, Englishmen, coloureds and blacks. It has parochial foes in Bulls, Sharks, Stormers, Cheetahs and Lions. It is a recipe for war! Yet in all the years of John Smit’s captaincy, there has never been one unhappy customer, not one voice of rebellion against his leadership. He is the glue that holds the Springboks together. The man is a legend!”- Jake White
good for a bit of a mix to see what combo's work
good luck![]()
Be There. Be Heard. Be The Force Behind The Force
Heyneke Meyer is the coach of Leicester as well. Between this and the Saracans game for the toughest game of the tour.
Consistant quality team over the years the Leicester Tigers are. Another old club been around since 1880.
Can't compare the Force against any of the NH teams really because of the missing test players link.
Last edited by welshrugbyfan; 28-08-08 at 19:08.
WOW joc at fulllback... thats really really interesting. wonder how it will work out...
who is filipe manu? hes been in the mix most games i think, is he an option next year?
A kick in this game is like a rather nasty alcoholic shooter, only as good as it's chaser...
Courtesy of quality South African commentry
Perhaps JOC is at fullback to sure up the mid-field as the English love driving from 12 and 13 and to get a bit of spark at full-back. If our set piece isn't working an attacking fullback who can really counter-attack is a necessity to apply the pressure. I for one would love to see how he goes.
Having GH, AJ and Tai on the bench will be great. When the opposition starts to tire around the 50-60 minute mark we can roll out a whole new front row to sure up our scrum and makes sure we don't have a repeat of last week. Plus it means all 6 front rowers will get a bit of game time against what will be a very strong forward from Leicester.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Horua Out of the final Clash
Rugby News, Results & Fixtures from Rugby Week
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
I was trying to see if we could get some live commentary from the game but no joy
Gerry
There is no live commentary for Saturday's game.
A written match report will be on the club website as quickly as
possible after the final whistle. (I am on my own in the communications
department tomorrow which means Tannoy duty, press conferences and match
report so the plan is to put up only a few sentences with scores and
scorers on the final whistle, to be replaced within an hour with a more
comprehensive report).
Gary Sherrard
Head of Communications
Leicester Tigers
Give him our thanks to TG
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
Leicester Tigers v Emirates Western Force
Tries by Aaron Mauger, Alesana Tuilagi and Tom Varndell, plus two conversions and a penalty from Toby Flood gave Leicester Tigers a 22-0 half-time lead against Australian visitors Western Force at Welford Road on Saturday.
Mauger opened the scoring with a smart finish to Flood’s pass after three minutes and, after the fly-half had added a penalty, Tuilagi forced his way over to the left of the posts. Dan Hipkiss supplied the final pass for Varndell to hold off two Force defenders in the right-hand corner as Tigers ended the half with their third try.
Full match report to follow.
Leicester Tigers: G Murphy, Varndell, Hipkiss, Mauger (c), Tuilagi, Flood, Ellis; Ayerza, Chuter, Cole, Blaze, Wentzel, Herring, Crane. Reps: Kayser, Bonorino, Woods, Kay, Dupuy, Vesty, T Youngs, Stankovich, B Deacon, Smith, Hurrell, J Murphy
Western Force: O’Connor, Haylett-Petty, Tatupu, Pelesasa, Sare, Daruda, O’Young; Cowan, Holmes, Longbottom, B Murphy, O’Connor, Hodgson, Pocock (c), Manu. Reps: McIsaac, Whalley, Hardy, Murday, Turner, Berryman, Barrett.
29-0 Croft try