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The Emirates Western Force have brought star youngster James O’Connor into their match-day 22 following the withdrawal of Cameron Shepherd through injury ahead of Saturday night’s match against the Lions.
Shepherd, who was earmarked to start at fullback, wasn’t able to complete the full session at Friday’s Captain’s Run in Johannesburg after feeling pain in his hip flexor. He will be replaced in the run-on side by Mark Bartholomeusz who played at 15 in the club’s win against the Crusaders and O’Connor has been listed as a reserve.
It is unfortunate timing for Shepherd who had found good form since making his way back into the side three weeks ago from a quad muscle tear sustained in the opening round of 2010. Club medical staff will review scans taken tomorrow and are hopeful it will only be a short term stint on the sidelines for the talented back.
“Everyone feels for Shep when something like that happens,” said skipper Nathan Sharpe.
“It’s not what you want to see for him after getting an opportunity to get a bit of consistency in game time and hopefully it’s only a week and he can get back into it next match.”
While the Lions are yet to win a match this season they’ve proved to be more than a handful at home where they’ve lost by no more than seven points in each outing. The home side’s attacking style has had teams rattled and Sharpe said the Force will have to reproduce their best to register back-to-back wins for the second time this season.
“This is a game that is very important in terms of the development of the side,” Sharpe said.
“Generally when you’ve beaten a top four team you’re expected to beat sides that are further down the log so that presents a different challenge for us. I think right from the outset the attitude has been very good and we want to see that transfer into tomorrow’s game.”
“We are looking to improve from last week, there are a lot of things that we can do better in terms of our general shape and attack.
“Everyone has recovered well from the long flight and looking forward to the game, I haven’t seen so much at energy at a Captain’s Run for a while, so it’s good,” said Sharpe.
Saturday night’s clash against the Lions is the start of a three match tour in South Africa for the Force who will also tackle the Cheetahs and Sharks during their stay in the republic.
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