Western Force Gold v Blue Bulls
Young Guns To Start Against Blue Bulls
Wednesday, 14 June 2006
RugbyWA
Academy players Kieran Longbottom and Will Brock will start for Western Force Gold for the first time when the team plays the Blue Bulls on Friday at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
The match is the last of Western Force Gold’s three game tour of South Africa and will see fellow Academy player Ryan Lenegan and Nedlands winger Garth Ziegler also in starting positions.
Emirates Western Force flanker and tour captain Luke Doherty will join Matt Windle in the second row, while Brock James’ return to flyhalf will depend on a fitness test, with Academy flyhalf Nathan McCort on standby.
Western Force Gold coach John Mulvihill said the game would provide the Academy players with another opportunity to take a step up.
“We’ve had a good week’s preparation and worked on the core skills that let us down in the game against the Lions,” he said.
“Much of the focus has been on defence and the areas we will target in attack, particularly at the breakdown.”
Mulvihill said it was very important, particularly against bigger and stronger opposition, that the team maintained possession so it could build phases.
Kick off is at 3pm (SA time).
In their first tour game, Western Force Gold lost 31-36 to a Sharks Invitational side in Pietermaritzburg and last Saturday, they went down 0-37 to the Golden Lions in Johannesburg.
The squad returns to Perth on Sunday morning.
The squad is:
1. Kieran Longbottom
2. Luke Holmes
3. AJ Whalley
4. Matt Windle
5. Luke Doherty (c)
6. Josh Fuimaono
7. Will Brock
8. Richard Brown
9. Chris O’Young
10. Brock James
11. Brett Stapleton
12. Haig Sare
13. Zander Peden
14. Garth Ziegler
15. Ryan Lenegan
16. Ryan Tyrell
17. David Te Moana
18. David Fitter
19. Tyler Edwards
20. Vitori Buatava
21. Nathan McCort
22. Gavin DeBartolo
23. Matt Shaw
24. Elliot Kuhlmann-Hall
