Mitchell: It's a must-win for the Force
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:31
Western Force coach John Mitchell is looking to see a more cohesive unit run out against the Reds on Sunday in what he calls a must-win game, and he is happy with the team's preparation over their bye week.
Before their bye, the Force suffered defeats to the Brumbies, Hurricanes and Chiefs.
Now former All Black and Chiefs flyhalf David Hill is in to make his Force debut at flyhalf, James O'Connor will move to inside centre and Dane Haylett-Petty to fullback with Mark Bartholomeusz ruled out through injury.
Ryan Tyrrell will also earn his first Super 14 start at hooker. Mitchell has been happy with the work done in peparation and is particularly happy with the mix he's got in the backline coming up against the Reds at Suncorp Stadium.
"We've been very lucky to have the bye week to establish that cohesion. It's not a choice that we've wanted to have all these changes, but we've done the best with what we've got," Mitchell said on the Force website.
"Now that Hilly's on board and we have an experienced flyhalf, we can move James to 12, [Ryan] Crossy is fully fit and Sheeno [Brett Sheehan] will enjoy having an experienced flyhalf outside him. We've focused on ourselves, but are mindful of the threat that Will Genia, Quade Cooper, Digby Ioane and Peter Hynes bring."
Training has been good with the group since the loss a fortnight ago at home to the Chiefs and now Mitchell is hoping the Force can build some momentum on Sunday ahead of a series of three home matches.
"Bye week has been really good for us. We've had five sessions now heading into Saturday's captain's run and they've been beneficial. We are in a must-win situation. We will still have opportunities post this, but it's pretty important to get started," he said.
"The two days last week were good because we were able to refine some aspects of attack and defence, and this week has been clearly focused on specifically playing against the Reds. We've still had a few niggles and had to manage people through the last five days though."
Mitchell has coached Hill before at Waikato, so the coach-flyhalf pairing are familiar with one another and as a result Mitchell has been pleased already with him, and is looking forward to seeing what he offers on game day.
"It's been really noticeable Hilly's presence in each session and he's got better in each one and the guys are beginning to understand and know him. He is fitting in really well," he told the Force website. "He's had a good impact and we look forward to even further impact on the weekend. His experience is invaluable and I hope that comes through on the weekend."
Bartholomeusz's injury was disappointing after he made his Force debut against the Chiefs, but that opens the door for Haylett-Petty. Pek Cowan, feeling sore, will also be moved to the bench, giving Tyrrell a long-awaited chance to start at Super 14 level.
"Barty hasn’t been able to get through any of the training since we've come out of bye week, so unfortunately as a result of no preparation we can't take a risk of even putting him on the bench. We'd rather him get right and reward the people that have been in the preparation," he said.
"Ryan is showing a lot of confidence in his preparation at the moment. Unfortunately Pek has been managing an injury and that hasn’t quite been right to prepare properly. Again we've gone with Ryan because he's been through that entire preparation."
Jono Jenkins is also on the bench and the Sydney University flank will look to make the most of his short-term contract with Richard Stanford taking over the No.8 jersey from Sam Wykes, who moves back to lock.
"I really don’t know a lot about Jono. I've only got to know him over the last seven days. He throws himself about and he's pretty well built. He might even be bigger than Hodgo (Matt Hodgson), so he's a bit disappointed on those stakes," he said, adding: "It's good to have another loose forward within the mix because we've been a little bit imbalanced in there the last couple of weeks having lost Browny (Richard Brown) and Poey (David Pocock). To have him in the mix gives us the opportunity to utilise further loose forwards as the match goes on."
Brisbane remains a place where the Force have never won and Mitchell is hoping that can happen this time, no matter what bad blood the Reds still hold.
"It's a derby and it's one place that we haven’t conquered since coming on the scene. We'll never forget the way that we were treated by Queensland when we did arrive," he said said on the Force website.
"There seems to some personal situations there about us taking their players, but in many ways we actually gave some of those players opportunities they weren’t getting. You are going to need more than that kind of emotion, though, and you can't rely on that even though it will be there."
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