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BnB says "woohooo!"
Western Force young gun James O'Connor has been cleared of a feared broken bone in his hand, as the chastened side take a week off to lick their wounds after another dip in a rollercoaster season.
During Saturday's 22-10 loss to the Sharks, O'Connor struggled with a head knock which left him with blurred vision and a nasty looking injury to his left hand which was serious enough to warrant an x-ray late yesterday.
To the club's relief the examinations came back clear today, allowing John Mitchell to plan ahead for a clash with the resurgent Queensland Reds - which Wallaby backrower David Pocock said will be the start of a run of "grand finals".
Slipping five points behind the top four and with a bye this weekend, the Force will have to improve the form markedly to make the finals, starting with the Reds.
"We will be really looking to get stuck into Reds because every week is now a grand final for us if we are to make the finals," Pocock told WAtoday.com.au.
"The positive is that we are not far off we think. It is not like we have to start again, there are little things we have to work on."
Pocock, who will spend his bye week travelling and then performing best man duties at his cousin's wedding just outside Durban, said an old schoolmate and a former Force teammate are shaping as the main threats of the competition.
"They have got Quade Cooper, who I played with at school so I know what he is capable of and he is producing it and outside him Digby Ioane is an absolute machine," Pocock said.
"It is going to be really tough."