Hockings into Starting Lineup for Wykes

[Darren]

Emirates Western Force Coach John Mitchell has made a late change to his starting lineup for Saturday night’s clash with the Bulls in Pretoria.

Lock Sam Wykes was this morning (SA time) ruled out of the crucial Week 12 match, failing to adequately recover from muscular and ligament damage to his left shoulder which he sustained during last week’s record romp over the Lions.

The Australian Under 20s star will be replaced in the starting lineup by Tom Hockings, who was originally named on the bench.

Mitchell will retain five forwards on the reserves bench, with lock/flanker Richard Stanford slotting into the number 19 jersey.

“Sam isn’t quite 100 per cent unfortunately, so we’ve had to make a decision on him this morning,” said Mitchell.

“We were still hopeful that he might come through (after yesterday’s training session), but we’re also fortunate to have some good depth in the squad and will start with Tom Hockings and bring Richard Stanford onto the bench.”

The Emirates Western Force will wrap up preparations for the must-win match with their captains run session at Loftus Versfeld this morning.

The full revised team list is as follows:

2009 Investec Super 14 Week 12
Emirates Western Force v Bulls
Saturday 2 May, 2009
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, SA
Kick off: 5.05pm SA (11.05pm) AWST

Emirates Western Force

1. Pek Cowan
2. Tai McIsaac
3. Ben Castle
4. Tom Hockings
5. Nathan Sharpe (c)
6. Matt Hodgson
7. David Pocock
8. Richard Brown
9. Josh Valentine
10. Matt Giteau
11. Cameron Shepherd
12. James O’Connor
13. Ryan Cross
14. Scott Staniforth
15. Drew Mitchell

Reserves

16. Ben Whittaker
17. AJ Whalley
18. Gareth Hardy
19. Richard Stanford
20. Tamaiti Horua
21. Josh Tatupu
22. Haig Sare

[Flamethrower]

Bugger for Sam He was really hitting his straps of late.

Go for it Tom. Show us what you've got.

[Burgs]

And Richard, please stopping hurting the Props...

[The Ethicist]

I'm a huge Hocking fan. The amount of fibrous tissue on the front of that cranium depicts toughness. Wykes needs a haircut and is far too obsessed with his appearance to play in the tight five. he likes to have his long locks blowing in the wind as he runs with the backs.

Hockings will be out to make a point as well after getting splinters from the bench for a few weeks. We need some hard heads that want to get dirty at the cauldron. It will be take no prisoners

[prop53]

Yes i think Hocking is a good choice for this weeks game, good to see Boof at least on the bench. And good luck both Tai and the Force on your 50th

[laura]

Emirates Western Force Coach John Mitchell has made a late change to his starting lineup for Saturday night’s clash with the Bulls in Pretoria.

That's what I like to hear, the Coach has made a change to his starting lineup. Obviously not the change part, which sucks for Sam but is great for Hocko, but the fact that the Coach is making the changes.

[pieter blackie]

We can win this
and with a win we can end up 4th or 5th on the ladder and a bonus point can make us be above the tahs

[slomo]

hockings v's matfield, should be interesting....