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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
Simon Cron: “People talk about winning and losing all the time and they are critical, but there’s a process to get into and it’s the ability to stay present, do your job and execute skills under pressure.”
So, just to clarify, out of the below players, only Newsome got a run in the trial so does that mean the other three haven't got a contract and have been let go? I was impressed with Foley and Figg in the NRC but I guess we only have so many contracts to give.
Wider Training Group
Con Foley (Sydney Rays)
Sam Figg (NSW Country Eagles)
Alex Newsome (NSW Country Eagles)
Will Magie (USA)
By my reckoning 7 forwards and 5 backs didn't take the field on saturday. Since we played 4 hookers, hodgo, makes and Rona, that pretty much makes a first grade side right there.
My question is, did those names not suit up because of injury, or was it the usual shenanigans we see in trials?
If all 12 are available round 1, the trial isn't worth anything as an indicator.
C'mon the![]()
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A preview on the Force by Brett McKay on The Roar today says Benny Mac out for a few weeks and Ben Matwijow out for the season following neck surgery last week after a training incident :-((
Read more:
http://www.theroar.com.au/2017/02/09...force-preview/
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Fingers crossed for no more injuries...first time in two season feeling confident in what we have on the books and depth....membership renewed...roll on 2107....be interesting to here from forum members what their team for the tahs will look like...TPN off the bench....
Re TPN, I think you'd have to give him the start.
Most experience, most aggression and he's playing against his old team. Even if he benches for the rest of the season, there's some good things about giving him the run on for that one!
I haven't heard much about Ranga Scobles, is he injured or is something else going on, he was easily good enough to push Cheese out of his spot last year.
Heath has proven ability and certainly has the respect of the playing group, he's locked into the team for mine unless Scoble starts to outperform him consistently and the Ru-Dozer (My favourite rugby moment of 2016 was that sign his mates held up for him at his debut) just needs to spend some time soaking up everything that TPN has to teach him, because he will be the next Tatafu, no question in my mind.
For me, round 1 TPN should be 2 and Heath 16. Let the rest of the season worry about itself.
For the same reason (and it seems he won't be fit for round 1 anyway) I'd save Ben Daley to get his first run on against the Reds (not sure he'll be fit for it, but it'd be good to see him ripping the heads off some Queenslanders!)
C'mon the![]()
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Any word on whether we are going to get a replacement lock for Ben Matwijow?