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March 27, 2008 - 4:08pm
Story by: Sportal
Force winger Drew Mitchell
The Force are back at home this week after a fruitful two-match-Trans-Tasman mission while the Stormers will look to finish their own four-game Australasian sojourn with another victory.
VENUE & TIME: Subiaco Oval, Perth, Friday March 28, 20.00 (local).
HEAD TO HEAD: Played 2 – Force 1, Stormers 1.
LAST TIME: February 9, 2007 (Bloemfontein) – Force 22-3 Stormers.
WALKING WOUNDED: Force scrumhalf Chris O'Young has been named in the starting XV but will have to prove he has overcome the shoulder complaint that saw him miss the clash with the Highlanders on Saturday. The Stormers welcome back hooker Tiaan Liebenberg after three weeks on the sidelines with a thigh strain.
Liebenberg is the only change to the tourists' 22 and will start the match on the bench.
FORM: The Force sit in fourth spot on the back of consecutive victories over the Blues and Highlanders. No doubt can be cast over the fitness of John Mitchell's men who piled on 20-unanswered-second-half points against the Blues and 16-straight in the final 20 minutes to topple the Highlanders. The Perth-based side also pushed runaway leaders the Crusaders to their limit before going down 29-24 in round-four - no other side has finished within 20-points of the Cantabrians this season. The Stormers have also made a move up the table in recent weeks after a slow start with emphatic victories over the Reds and Chiefs before falling by three points to the Blues.
WHO'S HOT: John Mitchell has his men operating as a cohesive unit with the likes of Ryan Cross, Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell in fine form out wide. But the forwards - led by skipper Nathan Sharpe who will play his 100th Super Rugby fixture this weekend - have shown they can more than hold their own this season. For the Sharks Schalk Burger and Luke Watson are both in blistering form in the backrow while flyhalf Peter Grant did enough against the Blues to hold off former All Black Tony Brown, who showed glimpses of his best from the bench in his first appearance for the men from Cape Town.
TEAMS:
Force: 1 - Pek Cowan, 2 -Tai McIsaac, 3 - AJ Whalley,
4 - Tom Hockings, 5 - Nathan Sharpe (c), 6 - Scott Fava, 7 - David Pocock, 8 - Richard Brown, 9 - Chris O’Young, 10 - Matt Giteau, 11 - Drew Mitchell, 12 - Scott Daruda, 13 - Ryan Cross, 14 - Scott Staniforth, 15 -Cameron Shepherd.
Reserves: 16 - Luke Holmes, 17 - Troy Takiari, 18 - Sam Wykes, 19 - Tamaiti Horua, 20 - James Stannard, 21 - Lachlan MacKay, 22 - Nick Cummins.
Stormers:1 - JD Moller, 2 - Schalk Brits, 3 - Brian Mujati, 4 - Ross Skeate, 5 - Andries Bekker, 6 - Schalk Burger, 7 - Francois Louw, 8 - Luke Watson, 9 - Ricky Januarie, 10 - Peter Grant, 11 - Sireli Naqelevuki, 12 - Jean De Villiers (c), 13 - Gcobani Bobo, 14 - Tonderai Chavhanga, 15 - Conrad Jantjes.
Reserves:16 - Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 - Brok Harris, 18 - Adriaan Fondse, 19 - Robbie Diack, 20 - Conrad Hoffmann, 21 - Gio Aplon, 22 - Tony Brown.
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Originally Posted by hertryk
Was the wait worth it - Ya betta baby 
