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Davidson to Debut Against The Hurricanes
Thursday, 16 February 2006
RugbyWA
Former Sydney University captain Tim Davidson will make his debut in the Tooheys New Super 14 competition when the Emirates Western Force play the Wellington Hurricanes on Saturday night.
Davidson was one of the team's stand-out performers during the trial phase and replaces Scott Fava at number 8, who will start on the bench after breaching the team's recovery and preparation protocol.
Also making his debut for the Perth-based team is flyhalf Brock James. The former Queensland Red was not considered for selection last week after suffering a flu-like virus.
Other changes to the line-up which started against the Brumbies last Friday include lock David Pusey, who replaces John Welborn.
And, with injuries to Lachlan MacKay and Josh Graham, Junior Pelesasa will move to inside centre and Scott Staniforth to outside centre.
Emirates Western Force head coach John Mitchell said injury and illness meant new combinations were still being employed.
Mitchell said Davidson was deserving of the opportunity presented by Fava's omission from the run-on side.
He said with Fava's selection in the Commonwealth Games team to play next month, Davidson was going to have to step in at some stage. The timing was just a little earlier than expected.
"While Scott's omission is unfortunate, it gives Tim a wonderful opportunity and he's more than ready for it," Mitchell said.
"He's been impressive at training, he's fast and elusive, and has a good head on his shoulders. He'll combine well with the other back-rowers, Luke Doherty and Matt Hodgson."
Mitchell described the Hurricanes as a formidable foe, boasting 11 All Blacks in their starting 15 and a great leader in Tana Umaga.
He said they were a threat all over the park, with a forward pack - including back-rowers Jerry Collins, Rodney So'oialo and Chris Masoe - which had matured, under the four years under the same coach, to be at the top of their game.
Saturday night's match will be played at Yarrow Stadium in the town of New Plymouth, familiar territory for Emirates Western Force's James and fullback James Hilgendorf. Both men have played for the province - Taranaki - in the National Provincial Championship.
Mitchell described the New Plymouth ground as a great place to play rugby and the locals as fiercely passionate rugby fans.
The squad is:
1. Gareth Hardy
2. Brendan Cannon
3. David Fitter
4. David Pusey
5. Nathan Sharpe
6. Luke Doherty
7. Matt Hodgson
8. Tim Davidson
9. Matt Henjak
10. Brock James
11. Digby Ioane
12. Junior Pelesasa
13. Scott Staniforth
14. Cameron Shepherd
15. James Hilgendorf
16. Tai McIsaac
17. David Te Moana
18. John Welborn
19. Scott Fava
20. Chris O'Young
21. Scott Daruda
22. Haig Sare
23. Richard Brown
going with Brock James this week.... what does everyone think of that???Originally Posted by Burgs
Last edited by Burgs; 16-02-06 at 11:54. Reason: Shortening Quote for continuity on thread
To some its a six-pack, to me it's a support group.
I think this to be a fairly well balanced team considering the injuries etc.
It would seem that Mitch has gone for a more mobile pack with Pusey swapping with Welborn.
Davidson will be one to watch if he can maintain his Sydney Uni mobility and sense of the try line.
With Brock James and Cameron Shepherd in we have two world class goal kickers to take every opportunity in what is promising to be a very physical encounter.
I am not sure how much Junior has played at 12 so this will be a big test for him and hopefully after last weekend it has been well drilled into him to pass the damn ball!!!
Unless there has been injuries to the other props in the squad that we haven't been told of, it has been a meteoric rise for David Te Moana to a regular bench spot as an apprentice.
The Force pack will have a huge say in wether we have any chance here or not.
If they can keep it tight then to some degree the Hurricanes backline can be taken out of the game.
In attack I felt last week that the ball went to our backs perhaps two phases too soon with too many Brumbies still out wide. Coupled with Junior's refusal to feed his wingers we created too much pressure on ourselves.
This week it will be imperitive to retain the ball in the forwards until the "perfect" platform is created for an all out wide assualt. This is reasonably high risk as the Canes are notoriuosly good at intercepts ans counter attacking but I feel there is no other way that we will get even an sniff otherwise.
The Force can win over there however it would be the upset of the round and unfortunately I think it may be a long, ice packed trip home to regroup.
I think Mitchell will still be placing a large emphasis on swinging the ball out wide. This is the style of game he appears to want the Force to play and the only way to improve is to plug at it. If Matt can feed the ball more efficiently then it should give our backs a bit more room to play with. I agree playing a predominantly forwards game is probably a sensible way to go in playing the hurricanes but I just think it would be detrimental to the development of the team and the playing philosophy. I can't remember who said it was probably a good thing we didn't win last Friday as it would have given a false belief but I think it is true and the best lessons are learned the hard way.Originally Posted by Burgs
Just happy to be here
our mid field backs defence looks very suss.Nonu may have a day out on this
A quote from Sharpe from Todays West Australian:
"As for Saturday’s game, think Hurricanes, think centres and loose forwards. It’s hard to go past Tana Umaga and Ma’a Nonu, a pair of speedsters who really get their dreadlocks streaming behind them.
But the really hard work gets done by their loose forward trio of Chris Masoe, Jerry Collins and Rodney So’oalo, All Blacks to a man.
It would have been nice to have Scott Fava on the park at the start of the game but his benching shows we’re serious about building the right culture in Perth. Relegating the vice-captain makes it clear we’ll make the hard decisions if necessary. "
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.
I think the media coverage for this game has generally been rather poor...the bloody Intra-Club matches are driving me crazy with the amount of attention they are getting...Winter Olympics doesn't help things.