Injuries hit Western Force but trial signs augur well
Western Force captain Ben McCalman will consult a specialist today after dislocating a thumb, while prop Francois van Wyk will have scans on an injured calf.
McCalman was injured at training last week and van Wyk was hurt in Saturday’s intraclub trial in Busselton.
Centre Marcel Brache took a head knock in the game but is expected to return to training on Thursday after concussion testing.
Coach Dave Wessels will be hoping all three, and others on his long injury list, will be fit for next Monday’s trial against Melbourne Rebels on the Gold Coast followed by the Global 10s tournament in Brisbane.
Wessels used 31 players and, without many of his big names, mixed and matched players between a “Force” and a “Spirit” side.
The Force came back from a 14-point deficit for a 22-14 win.
It was the first opportunity for Wessels to watch what is expected to be his first-choice centre pairing of new signings Billy Meakes and Curtis Rona.
Meakes, who moved back to Australia from English side Gloucester, was particularly impressive in defence.
“He is shaping up well,” Wessels said.
“Playing in those European conditions makes you pretty tough as a centre.
“He’s very strong over the ball, he makes good decisions.
“He played a fair amount of his rugby for Gloucester at 13 but we see him more as a 12.
“He and Curtis did a great job but so did the other pairing of Marcel and Alex Newsome.
“When we lost Kyle Godwin and Junior Rasolea people thought we might have been a bit thin in midfield.
“But we now have depth and there’s going to be a real battle for those jerseys.”
Wessels said the trial identified areas that needed work before the Super Rugby season started in a month.
“Everyone got an opportunity to test what we had been doing over the last couple of months,” he said.
“There are obviously some things that need to be worked on and we’ll address those in the next couple of weeks.
The West
