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Fresh off a terrific win over the Brumbies, the Emirates Western Force is enjoying things a week into a three-game road trip and want to keep the improved form going against the Chiefs in Hamilton on Friday.
After a long week with Matt Giteau announcing he was returning to Canberra next season, the Force put it all behind them to score a spirit-lifting 25-16 win over the Brumbies with Cameron Shepherd returning to be at the forefront with three tries.
The Force have also kept a relatively stable team together for the first time this season with a win over the Chiefs at Waikato Stadium set to keep them in the Super 14 top-four after four games.
Richard Brown goes out injured and is replaced by Tamaiti Horua in the starting line-up, while AJ Whalley and David Pusey have joined the squad on the reserves bench in place of Kieran Longbottom.
Shepherd missed the week 2 win over the Cheetahs with an ankle injury which could still have stemmed from his badly broken leg last year, but he returned to score three tries and while he doesn’t feel he worked overly hard for them, it boosted his confidence again.
"I didn’t actually have to do too much. Every time I caught the ball, I looked up and saw nobody in front of me," Shepherd said.
"They were probably the three easiest tries I've ever scored, but I'm still working my way back from my broken leg and it was nice to score a couple of tries and get the confidence up."
As for beating the Chiefs, Shepherd feels matching them physically is the key as the Force backline of Josh Valentine, Giteau, himself, Junior Pelesasa, Ryan Cross, Nick Cummins, Drew Mitchell and James O'Connor off the bench is world class.
"They've been pretty unlucky in their three games against teams at the top of the table. We are expecting a really physical encounter and that's what the boys have to get up for," he said.
"If we match them physically, we know we have the skill to give them a good run but if we can't we will get ourselves in trouble."
The Force are now in Hamilton preparing to battle the Chiefs and will remain in New Zealand to face the Crusaders on Saturday March 14, but Shepherd believes getting away from Perth has actually benefited the team.
"There's no secret that we've had some issues going on and it's been a really refreshing time since we got away from Perth. It has brought us more tightly together and the win obviously helps with that."
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Richard Brown goes out injured and is replaced by Tamaiti Horua in the starting line-up, while AJ Whalley and David Pusey have joined the squad on the reserves bench in place of Kieran Longbottom.
Shame about Longbottom isn't he the only WA player in the squad? I hope they keep him on tour at least...
I spoke to Kieran last night and he has been left in Sydney to play for Eastwood whilst the team is in NZ... I guess if there is any injuries he gets rushed over. It seems theare going to be filtering alot of their players through the eastern state comps this year, I know a few of the "apprentices" have been told to play a few games over there.
Let's hope that's only because they're into trial matches already in Sydney. I know RugbyWA has eased the requirement for all players to remein with WA clubs after the S14 season. But I'd hope the "apprentices" and quite a few of the full contract players will still be urged to play locally.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Excuse my ignorance, but has the local comp started yet? If not then I have no problem with them playing in Syndy now. They are getting valuable game time and experience. Not to mention they are closer to NZ (if we happen to need them in the next 2 weeks) and in some cases they're playing blokes at the same level as themselves so they are really competing on a level playing field (so to speak).
Hope Sheps' toes dont give him any problems this week
Keep it up with the try-fest.
Last edited by laura; 05-03-09 at 20:59.
If Shep wants to rage to the tune of 3 tries every week, I say rage away!
I Guess Shep is one the wing this week? Watch out for Sivi...