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Mitchell receives coach's tough
Wayne Smith | February 25, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html
IT has always been his pace and swerve that have distinguished Drew Mitchell as a rugby player, but lately Australia's World Cup try-scoring machine has added an unexpected string to his bow - toughness.
It would not be a word that comes readily to mind when most followers think of Mitchell who, with his boyish good looks and flowing hair, has always fitted into popular perceptions of what a winger should be.
But against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein early on Saturday, playing at fullback for Western Force in place of the injured Cameron Shepherd, Mitchell showed he is more than just speed and a pair of white boots.
"He had an outstanding performance in his 50th Super rugby game but what really impressed me was his toughness," coach John Mitchell said. "He's always had the gas and the footwork but his toughness on the inside shoulder and his strength in contact have really come on."
No less impressive was Mitchell's willingness to take on the responsibilities of a senior player, figuring alongside Matt Giteau and captain Nathan Sharpe as the men who held the Force together in a match they should have won easily but in the end only secured in the 84th minute with a pressure Giteau penalty goal.
In terms of not just their domination of possession but also the manner in which they used it, the Force showed moments of Crusaders-like authority. Almost alone of the Australian teams, it put its passes out in front of the target player who ran on to them at speed.
Yet for all its slick handling and silky running, the Force would have been shut out of the contest had Cheetahs kicker Conrad Barnard not sliced a penalty goal shot just wide of the posts in the 80th minute, allowing Mitchell and inside centre Scott Daruda to run the ball back to halfway from behind their own line.
For phase after phase, the Force probed for a weakness until finally Cheetahs flanker Heinrich Brussow succumbed to the pressure and presented it with a gift penalty by lying all over the ball at the breakdown.
Giteau's successful penalty from 40m saw the Force home 16-15 and will take it into Saturday's match with the Lions, 55-3 losers to the Blues, with an excellent chance of finishing its three-match tour of South Africa with two wins.
"It was a contest that could have gone either way but I think the better team got there in the end," coach Mitchell said.
It was a fair assessment, although the Cheetahs would have deserved their unlikely victory simply because of their refusal to cave in to a side that dominated possession two to one.
Still, given the trauma the Force has been through in the past fortnight as a result of the Henjak-Sare incident, it was a remarkably composed performance - none more so than halfback James Stannard, the man thrust into the starting team after Matt Henjak's contract was torn up.
The Queensland boilermaker backed himself by moving to Perth from Brisbane Souths in 2006 and impressed sufficiently in the RugbyWA premiership to earn a start in the ARC.
As recently as a month ago he was stacking supermarket shelves to make ends meet.
Meanwhile, fullback Cameron Shepherd will be given a day or two to prove his recovery from a strained anterior cruciate ligament. If he is unlikely to come into the reckoning for the Lions game, he will be flown home.
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