Reinforcements return for Force
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The Western Force will welcome back six players from injury for Saturday’s encounter against the Blues at the NIB Stadium.
Hugh McMeniman (collarbone), Ben McCalman (groin), Alby Mathewson (ankle), Marcel Brache (ankle), Tetera Faulkner (back) and Solomoni Rasolea (wrist) will all return to the Western Force line-up.
McMeniman will return at blindside flank in place of Angus Cottrell, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury in a club match.
McMeniman will make his first appearance since breaking his collarbone against the Chiefs and will form a new loose forward combination with Wallaby representatives Matt Hodgson and Ben McCalman.
Mathewson has been selected at scrumhalf in his first match against the Blues since leaving the Auckland club to join the Force for in 2013.
The 28-year-old, who re-signed with the Force for another two seasons last month, has recovered from an ankle injury sustained against the Waratahs in Week Nine and will again team up with flyhalf Sias Ebersohn.
Outside centre Brache will also make his return from an ankle injury suffered against the Stormers in Cape Town.
The fleet-footed midfielder missed the last two matches but will make his comeback alongside Chris Tuatara-Morrison in the centres.
On the bench, Rasolea will re-join squad after a broken wrist sidelined the powerful back since Week Eight's win over the Reds in Brisbane.
He will be joined on the reserves list by Faulkner, who missed the past two matches with a back complaint.
Head coach Michael Foley says Saturday’s match represents an significant test for the Western Force.
“A large part of our success this season has been the way the boys have maintained focus on the challenge in front of us,” he said.
“This match is important as we want to play as well as we can in our next two home games in front of our fantastic supporters.
“One of the features of our season has been how individuals have responded as and when opportunities to play have been presented.
"On that basis, it’s good to have a number of players returning from injury as it intensifies competition within the squad as we move into the next three games.
“The Blues are a dangerous attacking side and the way we’ve defended, which has given us good go-forward this season, will again be an important part of a good performance on Saturday night.”
The Force will be looking to extend its record run of 2014 home wins to six, following victories over the Rebels, Chiefs, Waratahs, Bulls and Lions this season.
Force: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Chris Tuatara-Morrison, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Matt Hodgson (captain), 6 Hugh McMeniman, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Sam Wykes, 3 Kieran Longbottom, 2 Nathan Charles, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacments: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 Oliver Hoskins, 19 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 20 Brynard Stander, 21 Ian Prior, 22 Zack Holmes, 23 Solomoni Rasolea.
Date: Saturday, June 28
Venue: NIB Stadium, Perth
Kick-off: 19.45 (11.45 GMT; 23.45 NZ Time)
Referee: Rohan Hoffmann (Australia)
Assistant referees: James Leckie (Australia), Michael Hogan (Australia)
TMO: Steve Leszczynski (Australia)
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