0
Wayne Smith From: The Australian March 10, 2011 12:00AM
THE Western Force will attempt to take the Blues out of their comfort zone on Saturday.
The Force plans to regularly switch James O'Connor back to fullback in the Super Rugby clash in Perth.
While indications are that O'Connor still will be wearing the No 10 jersey and running a lot of the set-piece plays from five-eighth, informed sources have told The Australian the versatile Wallabies backline utility will feature prominently during the game, running the ball up from fullback, with Gene Fairbanks slipping in to first receiver.
What made O'Connor so dangerous for the Wallabies last year was that he was able to pick his moments to swoop into the attack, generally on the receiving end of passes from Quade Cooper or Kurtley Beale.
As composed as he has been at five-eighth this year, he has been too easily spotted by defences and Force coach Richard Graham clearly is hoping his side's attack will be less predictable with O'Connor dramatically injecting himself into the play when least expected.
The loss of Test flanker David Pocock for the next month with knee ligament damage is a devastating setback for the Force.
But the dynamic form of Sam Wykes against the Sharks at least gives the Force confidence he can form a solid lock pairing with Nathan Sharpe, freeing Test number eight Ben McCalman to resume duty as a backrower.
The Force, meanwhile, has resigned itself to being without outside centre Mitch Inman for six weeks while he recovers from a dislocated elbow, before losing him permanently next season when he joins up with his former Sydney Uni coach Damian Hill at the Melbourne Rebels.
Inman has not yet confirmed the move but Force sources have told The Australian it is a done deal.
If so, it is a serious blow for the Force but a significant gain for the Rebels and a strong indicator the Melbourne franchise already is preparing for life after Stirling Mortlock.
There is no question Melbourne needs to inject some zip into its ball-in-hand game. Already this season the Rebels have made 534 tackles in just three matches, a total exceeded only by the Bulls (565).
Rebels coach Rod Macqueen quipped that the huge tackle count -- effectively double that of the Brumbies (279) -- was a good statistic. "Last year the Bulls made the most tackles and they won the title, so you could argue it's a good key performance indicator," he said.
Levity aside, Macqueen conceded the Rebels needed more ball, not only to ease the pressure on their defensive line but to start working on the shape of their game.
So little attack have the Rebels managed that Macqueen still doesn't know what he doesn't know about his side's offensive game. If tomorrow's clash with the Sharks at The Stockade is to enlighten him, the Rebels will need to seriously improve their set pieces.
Certainly Macqueen is well aware how formidable the Sharks are at scrum time, having attempted, unsuccessfully, to recruit the du Plessis brothers, hooker Bismarck and loosehead Jannie, both Springboks.
Much as the Sharks have deplored what they saw as the excessive physicality of the Force last weekend, they are the benchmark team in terms of legitimate aggression and Macqueen knows there can be no shirking the battle up front.
"You don't run around teams like the Sharks," he said. "You've got to confront them."
All Blacks hard man Brad Thorn has been stood down to the Crusaders bench for tomorrow's clash against the Brumbies, but there is nothing in this to encourage the ACT, with another craggy Test veteran, Chris Jack, named in Thorn's place for his 100th match for the Canterbury-based club.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226018676043
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Haji
Courtesy of quality South African commentry
