Super Rugby: Western Force unveil new-look side featuring 10 potential debutants for opening round clash

The West Australian

23 February 2023

Super Rugby: Western Force unveil new-look side featuring 10 potential debutants for opening round clash

A pair of former Queensland Red playmakers are at the heart of Simon Cron’s new-look Western Force side for their opening game of the Super Rugby season.

Bryce Hegarty will start at fly-half and Hamish Stewart will shift to inside centre, two of 10 Force debutants named in the sqaud to take on the Melbourne Rebels at HBF Park on Saturday night.

Captain Michael Wells and Wallabies hooker Folau Fainga’a headline a group of six Super Rugby veterans set to play for the Force for the first time, along with lock Jeremy Williams, full-back Chase Tiatia and the two ex-Reds,

There are also Super Rugby debuts for ex-Wasps pair Sam Spink and Zach Kibirige and lock Felix Kalapu and a potential debut for substitute Siosifa Amone.

Stewart started the Force’s final trial game against Fijian Drua in the 10 jersey, but will shift to the 12 and Cron said he was excited to watch the versatile duo pair up.

“The key for us is we know Hamish can play 12 and we’ve given him opportunities to play 10 over the last few weeks because he’s going to end up there for us and he needs to be able to play both,” he said.

“Bryce is a conductor, so what that means is his voice is very dominant, he’s really good at commanding what’s happening during games and the boys will hear.

“We’ve got two ballplayers at 10 and 12 and that’s a lot to do with what we’ve been working on with Hamish, that both of them are active, engaged, and actually quite similar in terms of catch, pass, running lines for us, which is really important.”

Ian Prior will start at scrum-half over Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, while Kalapu will partner Williams in the second row in the absence of Wallabies star Izack Rodda.

Rodda is set to miss the start of the season after re-injuring his right foot - the same foot which caused him to miss the entire Test calendar last season - and Cron said they would be cautious with the star forward.

“It’s a stress fracture injury in the foot and sometimes the hardest part about that is they can be a little bit reoccurring,” he said.

“We’re still going through the process of working out the best way in terms of return to play timing and the key thing for us is that we just listen to medical and take our time.

“Sometimes with injuries like that, you do have to reevaluate every week, every two weeks, see where the pain threshold is, and go from there.”

The Force may be rank outsiders with several betting markets to do some damage this season, but Cron said they were eager to prove the doubters wrong.

“We’re not allowed to bet so we don’t look at it too much. If you don’t have a chip on your shoulder when you’re playing then you shouldn’t play, so there’s another little nice chip for us.

“I think you’ve got to be self-motivated, but it’s always good to know - there’s nothing better than people losing money on you if they bet against you.”