Spirit catchcry - may the Force be with you

[wholetruth]

These blokes had better perform

Nick Taylor The West Australian

Perth Spirit by team name. Western Force by team sheet.

The Spirit side named for Sunday's NRC clash with Brisbane City at McGillivray Oval is a defacto Force team. Fourteen of the starting side and four reserves have played Super Rugby.

The only player in the run-on side without Super experience is Australian under-20 representative, No.8 Ross Haylett-Petty, who will play alongside his brother, full-back Dane.

Brisbane coach Nick Stiles expects the Spirit to play a typical Force structured game - ironically, one he was part of when he was a Force assistant coach.

"They will be very Western Force orientated, very structured and have a very clear understanding of that Western Force style," Stiles said.

But a back line with names like Kyle Godwin, Luke Morahan, Junior Rasolea and Haylett-Petty may prove Stiles wrong.

Throw Justin Turner, Dillyn Leyds and Marcel Brache into the mix in a competition with new laws designed to encourage running rugby and he could be proved very wrong.

Winger Morahan, in his first game in nearly five months, certainly thinks he will be.

The speedster was felled by a snapped tendon in his left hamstring and suffered a setback with a strain to the same muscle 11 weeks later at training.

"The standard has been high and it looks like a cracking competition. The first round saw a lot of teams quick tapping, which is speeding up the game," he said.

"I'm looking forward to that. I'd like to play 80 minutes but we'll see how the body pulls up. Five months out I might be underdone."

Morahan will be out to impress Wallabies coaching staff in Perth ahead of the game against South Africa tomorrow week but knows he needs to be patient.

·The ARU will introduce flexible contracts from 2016 for a select number of players who commit to Australian rugby on long-term deals that will allow overseas sabbaticals.

They will be able to offer players the opportunity to play one season in a foreign domestic competition during a long-term contract and players who represent Australia in sevens at the Rio Olympic Games will be allowed to play the 2016-17 Japanese domestic season without affecting their eligibility for the Wallabies in 2017.


■PERTH SPIRIT *

Pek Cowan, Heath Tessmann, Tetera Faulkner, Sam Wykes, Rory Walton, Brynard Stander, Matt Hodgson, Ross Haylett-Petty, Justin Turner, Dillyn Leyds, Marcel Brache, Kyle Godwin, Junior Rasolea, Luke Morahan, Dane Haylett-Petty. *Reserves *: Robbie Abel, Francois van Wyk, Oliver Hoskins, Corey Thomas, Richard Hardwick, Ian Prior, Zack Holmes, Va'a Mailei. *Kick-off 3.30pm. *

[Alison]

I'm damn sure they will perform! This is the start of their tilt for S15 finals next year!!

[G_Beard]

There seems to be snide tone to the article!?
This is the whole point of the NRC, rehab players, introduce players, get new players up to speed with game plan, identify new talent and most importantly give the players on the edges of S15 as much game time as possible.
I reckon that RWA is playing this very smart.

[Alison]

And from a psychological perspective (if not also from a marketing and financial one), how good would it be to start the S15 comp next year with the Spirit as the inaugural winners of the NRC? :-)) Go for it Mark and team!!

[chibi]

This is one of the reasons I wanted to continue the FORCE brand name through this competition, I thought if we won the NRC Premiership, it would have been a good marketing tool to use on the back pages for the mainstreamers, leading into Super Rugby next year:

"FORCE WIN NATIONAL RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP! BRING ON SUPER RUGBY!!!"

Something like that...

[shasta]

It may look like the side has been "stacked", but the coaches probably want to give senior players every chance to press their claims for national selection. Ben Mac should only need to deliver his normal standard to replace a very unimpressive Palu. Hodgo should be a lay down but will likely be overlooked again. Also, with a dearth of real gas on Wallaby the flanks, Morahan could be, like Kyle Godwin, an outside chance. I'd like to see a strong performance from Genia. At his top form he is several levels above the current 9's. Even if he is not the most popular player around here.

[SNOB]

Looking forward to it! Should be a good game. I hope there's a good turn out.

[AndyS]

With the ability to watch a number of Wallabies play a real match across the thickness of a sideline rather than from a mile away in a stadium, I can't understand how they haven't generated more buzz about this...

[westies man]

With the loss of the ability to watch a number of local club players who did the job last week against a side fielding 11 Brumbies I can understand why there isn't more of a buzz, from grassroot supporters anyway.

[travelling_gerry]

Big crowd there, the caterers were expecting 1500

[Alison]

Big crowd there, the caterers were expecting 1500

Spirit confirmed the crowd was 2,300!! Pretty good I reckon :-))

[jargan83]

Perth Spirit with local club players 1 win 0 losses
Perth Spirit full of Super Rugby players 0 wins 1 loss