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'Tahs sweating on Palu and Baxter
18th March 2010 08:18
Will he or won't he? Palu
Waratahs coach Chris Hickey is sweating over the fitness of Wycliff Palu and Al Baxter ahead of their trip to face derby rivals Western Force.
The Australian international duo are struggling with respective hamstring and calf injuries that saw them both sit out training on Thursday.
And that has left Hickey with an issue regarding selection as he looks to keep his charges fresh going in the mid-part of the Super 14 season.
"It's a bit of a dilemma, every week you've got an important game to play and a challenge," Hickey said, speaking to AAP.
"You want to have your best team on the field, but you also want those players reasonably fresh and available at the end of the year."
If both Palu and Baxter fail to be passed fit for the game in Perth, Hickey is likely to bring in Ben Mowen on the flank and Sekope Kepu at prop.
"Once you get into this stage of the season you do start to look at possibly rotating," he explained, with his side playing the Blues in Round Seven.
"But you've got to be careful that doesn't jeopardise your chances to win the game you've got to play on the weekend.
"We are probably in a reasonable position to do that (rotate players), given we've got a strong bench and players there who are certainly capable of starting games, so that's something you start to have a look at this stage of the season.
"We don't get our bye until round ten, which is a fair way into the competition, so we may have to try and look at that in the next week or two given that the bye is that late in the season."
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,2...033667,00.html