0
Force fur will fly
DAVE HUGHES
1 May 2008
The West Australian
One way or another, it’s going to be a close shave for lock David Pusey when the Western Force play the Waikato Chiefs in Saturday’s Super 14 match at Subiaco Oval.
With regular starter Tom Hockings hindered by a shoulder injury, the experienced Pusey and rookie Sam Wykes are competing to join captain Nathan Sharpe in the second row.
If coach John Mitchell is dinkum in his desire to use the last three games of the season to build for the future, Wykes is likely to get the nod in the run-on side but only if he shows he is over the sore hamstring which prematurely curtailed his participation in Tuesday’s intense training session at Perry Lakes.
Wykes, who turned 20 last Friday, probably faces a fitness test tomorrow in which he will need to show he can sprint at full pace.
Pusey, 29, will therefore only learn on the eve of the game whether his inclusion in the squad for the first time since the season-opening South African tour will be as starter or replacement.
Wykes and Pusey sport the most prolific hair in the team but only the former will retain his by the end of the night. Force fans have donated most of the $10,000 required for Pusey to shave for charity and a tin rattle on the night is expected to make up the shortfall. Pusey, who will lose his caveman look to an electric shaver on the field after the match, will donate the money to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
He is surprised his former hairdresser has volunteered to do the shearing.
“I haven’t been around for a cut for about two years,” he said. “The beard’s only nine months old, though.”
Wykes is more worried about the state of his hamstring than his hairdo.
“I felt a small twinge at training but it’s fine today,” he said. “If they want me I should be OK.”
The former Waratahs Academy player was the fastest of the Force forwards at pre-season training and his burst against the Cheetahs emphasised his pace on his Super 14 debut.
Wykes caught the eye of the Force coaches when playing for West Sydney in the Australian Rugby Championship and he said Mitchell’s phone call came at just the right time.
“I was coming off contract and the Waratahs had a couple of locks a few years older than me in Dean Mumm and Will Caldwell,” he said. “There was an opportunity in Perth to get into Super 14 so I came over.”
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by laura
