The Brumbies and the Force have both named their sides to tackle each other on Friday, as these two will open the Australian conference for the 2012 Super Rugby season.
Jake White has selected a mixture of youth and experience for the Brumbies, with their front row looking specifically good, with Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore and Dan Palmer packing down.
Their star backline player Pat McCabe is unavailable due to injury, but in the halfbacks of Nic White and Matt Toomua they have some good talent, with White likely to do much of the goal kicking. Christian Lealiifano is a star in the making, and will be playing in combination with Andrew Smith in the centres.
The Force team sees Nathan Sharpe in action for the first time this season, after sitting out the warm up matches, and will add much experience to the pack. The loose trio is perhaps one of the strengths of the team, with Matt Hodgson, David Pocock and Ben McCalman making up the trio.
The halfback combination of Brett Sheehan and James Stannard should be a combination we will see a lot of, with Nick Cummins the danger out on the wing.
Brumbies: 1. Ben Alexander,2. Stephen Moore,3. Dan Palmer,4. Leon Power,5. Sam Carter,6. Peter Kimlin,7. Ita Vaea,8. Ben Mowen (c),9. Nic White,10. Matt Toomua,11. Jesse Mogg,12. Christian Lealiifano,13. Andrew Smith,14. Henry Speight,15. Robbie Coleman
Replacements:16. Anthony Hegarty,17. Ruaidhri Murphy,18. Scott Fardy ,19. Michael Hooper ,20. Ian Prior,21. Zack Holmes,22. Joe Tomane
Western Force: 1. Pek Cowan,2. Nathan Charles,3. Salesi Ma’afu,4. Toby Lynn,5. Nathan Sharpe,6. Matt Hodgson,7. David Pocock (Captain),8. Ben McCalman,9. Brett Sheehan,10. James Stannard,11. Napolioni Nalaga,12. Rory Sidey,13. Winston Stanley,14. Nick Cummins,15. Alfie Mafi
Reserves:16. Elvis Taione,17. Kieran Longbottom,18. Phoenix Battye,19. Angus Cottrell,20. Justin Turner,21. Ben Seymour,22. Sam Wara
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Coleman at 15 ?
Jake looking to mix things up it seems.
good luck jake.
Why is Pocock still wasting his time at the Force? 🙄
I might just go for the Force here.
@Pokkel (Comment 4) :
It’s a difficult call..
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 5) :
It’s purely based on the fact that I know more players in the Force team than the Brumbies. Although that would go against my usual reasoning of….’when in doubt, go with the home team’ 😕
Is it just me or do these teams look pretty average after reading the Bull,Sharks,Saders & Blues teams? Id be the last one to write any aussie side off but i cant help but think that these teams will be competitive at home but away that should be cannon fodder!
@SheldonK (Comment 7) : I think aussie rugby in general is going down slowly.