By Justin Chadwick
February 6th 2010 @ 5:38am
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Force hopes dive as Pretorius ruled out for season
The Western Force’s finals aspirations took a massive nose dive on Friday after it was confirmed star recruit Andre Pretorius will miss the entire Super 14 season with a hamstring injury.
Pretorius, who notched 31 Tests for South Africa but was lured to the Force as a replacement for flyhalf Matt Giteau, suffered a season-ending hamstring injury at training on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old only signed a one-year deal with the Force, meaning he may never play a Super 14 game for the Perth-based franchise.
“I’ve gone to work with the boys for so long now and it has been my best pre-season in many years,” Pretorius said in a statement.
“I’m really disappointed that I won’t be able to have the opportunity to represent the Western Force and play rugby with the new mates that I have made here.
“My body was in the best condition it has been in a long time and after watching the video footage of the training session and seeing when the injury occurred it didn’t look like much at all.
“The physios at the club said it was just a freakish type of injury.
“I guess the only good thing from a personal point of view is that the Force has the best hamstring rehab program that I have ever worked with.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow after putting in all the hard yards and committing myself to a great bunch of guys at the club.
“I still want to remain involved and offer any assistance I can to help make this a successful season for the Force.”
The Force are in talks with the ARU to see if they can replace Pretorius, who was the Force’s marquee international player.
Clubs are only allowed to sign one international marquee player but the Force may ask for a special allowance given Pretorius won’t be able to play at all.
“It is really unlucky for Andre, I feel gutted for him,” coach John Mitchell said.
“From a playing perspective we now have to look at what we’ve got and move forward without him, that’s just part of rugby.”
One-Test Wallaby Mark Bartholomuesz is likely to take up the vital No.10 jersey in place of Pretorius while the Force explore their options.
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(13)
Go_the_Wannabe's said | February 6th 2010 @ 11:58am | Report comment
Bartholomeuz did the job on the night. All is not lost.
Blinky Bill of Bellingen said | February 6th 2010 @ 12:17pm | Report comment
Bugger! It’s a pity seeing him out injured. I for one was quite looking forward to seeing him run out for the Force.
Chris said | February 6th 2010 @ 12:24pm | Report comment
Even if the Force are allowed to replace him with a foreign player it is hard to think of any players even remotely near his caliber on the market at the moment.
Perhaps they should take a look at the Shute Shield or give one of the local juniors a chance to step up? Let’s face it – they were/are going to be battling to avoid the spoon in any case so they may as well blood some talent. I wouldn’t mind seeing JOC get some game time at 10. He didn’t exactly set the world alight at fullback for Australia last year.
reds fan said | February 7th 2010 @ 6:16pm | Report comment
from what i saw i dont think the Force will be battling to avoid the wooden spoon. they have a strong cohesive forward pack that secures them good ball.
Chris said | February 7th 2010 @ 6:23pm | Report comment
Repeat after me: “Trials are glorified training sessions, Trials are glorified training sessions, Trials are glorified training sessions, Trials are glorified training sessions, Trials are glorified training sessions, Trials are glorified training sessions, Trials are glorified training sessions, Trials are glorified training sessions, Trials are glorified training sessions…” you get the picture.
Besides, it was against the Reds…
Working Class Rugger said | February 6th 2010 @ 1:11pm | Report comment
Chris
Isn’t Sam Harris supposed to be his back up?. Not good. JOC at 10 would be worth a shot as I don’t really think there two young 5/8’s ( Kyle Godwin and Stefano Hunt) would be up to the task just yet. Providing experience is one thing but too much to soon could potentially be career ending.
Justin said | February 6th 2010 @ 9:50pm | Report comment
I imagine they might go to Bart. I used to love watching him for the Brumbies in any position it seemed. He has the time and skill to play in most positions well.
Does anyone know what position he has been playing the last few years away?
Bay35Pablo said | February 7th 2010 @ 7:09pm | Report comment
Norton-Knight is meant to be unhappy in Wales. Get him back ASAP.
Or get Toomua or Lealifano moved …. or Halangahu or Beale …
Brett McKay said | February 7th 2010 @ 7:13pm | Report comment
funnily enough Pablo, SNK could be a Red this season, if we’re to believe the Sun-Herald today….
And you get your eyes off Toomua and/or Lealiifano
Terry Kidd said | February 7th 2010 @ 8:06pm | Report comment
SNK maybe, but why not JOC? To me he would be a better option than anyone else because they can cover 12 and 15 … the only other two positions JOC would play. What about JOC 10 and Bartholomeuz at 12?
Jameswm said | February 8th 2010 @ 12:09pm | Report comment
The Force must be SPEWING!
Anyway, since when are hamstrong injuries season-ending? You’re normally back within a month, even for a bad one.
Bad luck for Pretorius though – I think he was looking forward to it.
Brett McKay said | February 8th 2010 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
when you tear it off the bone, it’s definitely season-ending….
Jameswm said | February 8th 2010 @ 4:00pm | Report comment
torn off the bone? I didn’t see that.
Ouch.