Shepherd has eyes on Wallabies recall

[travelling_gerry]

Shepherd has eyes on Wallabies recall



5th March 2009, 16:30 WST

Cameron Shepherd wants to reclaim his spot as Wallabies full-back by June but is happy to live on a wing and a prayer this month.

Having endured successive injuries that limited his chance of making the Wallabies No.15 jersey his own in 2007 and last year, Shepherd considers the wing the best place for him right now as he hones his speed and his confidence.

Shepherd made a miserable return to full-back in the season opener against the Blues, with sub-standard handling, tackling and kicking.

“I was pretty filthy with myself,” he said. “I knew I had a bad game and why.”

He missed the Cheetahs match because the ankle he shattered in mid-2008 against France was still giving him discomfort but his return on the wing in round three was the stuff Han Christian Andersen wished he could dream up for a fairytale.

Shepherd entered the match looking for a measure of confidence. Three tries later – only the second in Force history – he was spraying confidence around the dressing room with the merry abandon of a victorious formula one driver wasting a magnum of expensive French champagne.

“I got the boost I needed,” he said. “I’m feeling great now.

“I didn’t have to work too hard to get the tries in Canberra. All I had to do was get in space and finish.”

He said he was happy for Drew Mitchell to continue as full-back in tomorrow’s Super 14 match against the Waikato Chiefs here, particularly if he continues to get good ball.

“I love playing on the wing outside Drew because he creates so many chances for me,” said Shepherd.

“I just hope we keep doing the same things against the Chiefs.

“They’ll come out very physical and strong and if we don’t match them, they’re the kind of side who will get on top and dominate.”

HAMILTON
DAVE HUGHES


http://www.thewest.com.au/default.as...ntentID=128419

[mudskipper]

Wet tonight he will be chasing a lot of kicking from Donald the chiefs Flyhalf as will Mitchell and Cummins...

[jargan83]

I'm sure Gits will lob some in the Chiefs direction as well

[zimeric]

great photo of Sheps there... shows a clean pair of heels from.. is it Lealifanu?

[force addict]

or Adam Ashley - Cooper

[BaldCunus]

or Gerrard - take your pick I suppose he showed a clean pair to all 15 brumbies last week.

[skippy]

Run Shep..... RUN

[JediKnight]

Based on last night's performance, Shep has a lot of work to do before raising some interest from Aussie Rob.

[zimeric]

on the contrary i think he had an OK game overall.. one aspect he seems to have had trouble with this year is his tackling of a passing player... his tackles from behind were fine and his positional play was great but the front on standing tackles were Shyte - to be blunt..

But then again, everyone had a shit tackling game last night... Cummins dropped 2, Pelesasa dropped 2, giteau got handed off a wicked shot and dropped another one, Crossy was terrible dropping at least 3 straightforward tackles.. the only one that didnt drop any that i can remember was Mitch but his game was bad in other areas... butterfingers.