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Turner out for up to 8 months!
Former Western Force scrum-half and Australian 7s star James Stannard could be on his way back to the club for next year's Super rugby competition.
The Force must look for a new No.9 to back-up Brett Sheehan with Justin Turner expected to need a knee reconstruction that would see him sidelined for up to eight months after an injury in the IRB world junior championship.
The Force is also considering Auckland Blues scrum-half Grayson Hart, 21, while another option could be Patrick Phibbs, 29, who has been at the Brumbies since 2005and is understood to be looking for a move.
Stannard came to Perth in 2006 from Brisbane Souths.
He was selected in the Force academy two years later and was thrust into the spotlight with six Super 14 starts, making his debut against he Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, after Matt Henjak was sacked and before Chris O'Young re-signed.
When Josh Valentine was signed Stannard lost his position in the squad and eventually found himself in Canberra and the Brumbies academy and then eastywood in Sydney.
Since then he has been contracted to the Australian Rugby Union on a 7s contract, captaining the side to their first IRB title in eight years in London in May when he was named player of the tournament.
French clubs showed an interest in Stannard, nicknamed "Chucky", after the win.
Hart, whose uncle is former All Blacks coach John Hart, has Australian eligibility through his family heritage.
He made his debut for Auckland in the 2007 ANZ Cup as a 19-year-old and was a member of the New Zealand U20 team that won the inaugural IRB Junior World Championship in 2008.
"A couple of names have been thrown up for discussion. James Stannard is one, on the back of his sevens performances where's he'd done really well and another is Grayson Hart and we will look at his form in the NPC," Force rugby manager Mitch Hardy said.
Turner, 20,wasinjuredafter just five minuites ofAustralia's final pool match against South Africa on Sunday, a game the young Wallabies went on to win 42-35.
The injury is a bitter blow to Turner who missed out on last year's tournament with a back injury.
He played in Australia's 58-13 win over Scotland and was a reserve in the 67-5 demolition of Tonga .
The exciting young scrum-half has had a rapid rise in his rugby career.
He came from the bench to be part of the Force's after-the-siren win against the Stormers and scored his first try seven days later in the victory over the Highlanders in Queenstown.
Soon after he signed a two-year deal with the Force and was then handed the starting scrum-half spot against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein
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I have watched a few of those 7s games recently and at first I was thinking 'is this the same Stannard that was with the Force?'. He has been absolutely brilliant playing 7s for Aus.
I know there is a difference between 7s and 15s but the skills he has displayed and the leadership he has shown in captaining Aus means he has really come on in his rugby development. To be named 'Player of the Tournament' cosidering the large number of quality players involved is a huge achievement.
If he is interested in coming back to the Force next year I hope we sign him up before any of the other Aussie teams try to snaffle him...
Turner will possibly not take any part in the 2011 season. We could do a lot worse than Chucky as backup to Sheehan. At 28 he's got quite a few years left in him. Turner will still be the long term starting 9 if he stays here.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
rumour control had it that Stannard played most of his games for us with ross river virsus
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
ooo, that would suck...
BRING BACK CHUCKY!
rumor was that he never wanted to leave the force in the first place!
what happened to Swanepoel?
Bloody brilliant (the news on Chucky, not Turner)!! Chucky got screwed over when we bought other players in at scrumhalf and then screwed over again when the Brumbies bought players in. About time the kid got a chance to give super 14 a real crack without the virus.
basically.
all he wanted to do was play for the force, but they fucked him off.
the force owe him. he should be given another shot to prove that he is capable of playing at S14 level.
he showed great potential, and was dam handy in defense!
bring him back. and keep him here until he retires, because he seemed like a complete club man
I am sure we have a reliable source within TWF who can bring us up to date.
And we would love to see his parents join us at the bowlo next year and we promise we won't lose you guys next time.
The "Bring back Chucky" refrain begs the question in my mind:
In a time when our national front row is chewing grass, WHERE IS AJ??
AJ!
AJ!
AJ!
'God invented beer to prevent Props from taking over the world'
He and Pek are playing for the Rats tomorrow against Al baxters Norths