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Longbottom gets into the scrum of things
5th May 2008, 11:00 WST
Kieran Longbottom had a Super 14 debut to remember, tasting life from both sides of the scrum.
The first product of the WA club system to progress directly to the Western Force, Longbottom came off the bench to be unusually used at both loosehead and tighthead prop during his 70 minutes on the field against the Chiefs at Subiaco Oval as injuries to fellow front- rowers took their toll on Saturday night.
The Rockingham strongman was sent into the action after just 10 minutes when starting loosehead Pek Cowan had his thumb ripped from its socket.
The Force scrum held up well against the Waikato side, so much so Longbottom was not fazed when asked to switch to tighthead when Troy Takiari was hurt, with starting hooker Tai McIsaac having to rejoin at loosehead.
“I didn’t feel out of my depth,” he said after a more involved initiation to Super 14 than he would have expected.
“I made sure I did my role at loosehead and when I went to tighthead I got a good hit straight away. I was able to move their side of the scrum around, which felt good.
“What I enjoyed was that you could go really hard at the opposition and try things that would get you penalised in club rugby. In Super 14 the front-rowers are trying all sorts of things to get dominance.”
Longbottom admitted to struggling to adjust to the faster pace of the game.
“I was shattered at half-time,” he said. “We’d done a lot of defending and I was wondering how I’d get through another 40 minutes.”
Coach John Mitchell was impressed with the way the rookie handled the pressure.
“I thought he played well,” Mitchell said. “It’s pleasing to see a home grown player get a chance like this. He went well and that will have given him a lot of self belief.”
DAVE HUGHES
I bet he was shattered! Bet he didn't feel it when the siren sounded though![]()
There's a photo on the Getty images website of the team on the field after the siren sounded - he looks elated! They all do!
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Nice work Kieran...looked like he did an excellent job from where I was...Does anyone know about Pek's injury? Is he out for the rest of the season or is it trifling?
Kieran may be getting a fair bit of game time in the future with that sort of performance...
coz Stone Cold says so
Front Row for the Canes Game:
Hardy- had a good game against the Sinapore Team i.e. he's match fit
Tai
Longbottom
We is gonna win
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
Hardy's back? sweeet!! thats a very good front row. how about Whalley or is he injured?
Be There. Be Heard. Be The Force Behind The Force
At the risk of being groaned at by AJ fans, apparently he was dropped for non performance
Young WA-bred prop Keiran Longbottom's chance on the bench has also sent a message to regular starter AJ Whalley, as did Mitchell.
"We just think the workrate around the pitch hasn't been acceptable for the level where we want to head and it's time for AJ to shift and improve his performance going forward," he said.
Mitchell hopes for future highlights - Rugby - Fox Sports
Laugh and the world laughs with you.......
......cry and you'll weaken your beer
For a debut and considering his position for mine Kieran had as least a good debut as O'Connor.
He held down two of the toughest positions in Rugby against a big pack for seventy minutes and even had some dominance, that is really quite exceptional.
Absolutely stoked that we finally have a genuine WA Born & Bred player in the stats and full credit to Kieran for being that player.
Two years ago virtually none of us would have backed a Prop, or even a Forward, to take that honour.
Last edited by Burgs; 05-05-08 at 17:00. Reason: To save his personal fan club melting down...
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
What are you saying about the men in this State Burgs?
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
That, while plucky, they perhaps don't match others in the forwards as a rule....coming from a forward...
A Backrow or Outside Back would have been at far shorter odds than a Tight Fiver
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
You may notice I wrote his name twice, the first was spelt right, the second was a typo. sheesh![]()
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.