Mitchell shows faith despite Force woes

Western Force coach John Mitchell has named an unchanged starting line-up for Saturday’s Super 14 clash with NSW in Perth, believing his players deserve the chance to atone for last week’s 50-10 pummelling at the hands of Queensland.

The Force sit last on the table with no points from their four games.

And despite the Force’s horror showing against the Reds last week, where the line-out was particularly atrocious, Mitchell said he had faith the team could turn their fortunes around.

“We’ve put accountability back on the same team,” Mitchell said on Thursday.

“It’s important to settle on selection and get some continuity with the same players.

“They’re not playing for their futures, they’re good players.

“It’s just a matter of becoming a little more attentive on the detail.

“I think it’s good for the players to have (a settled side) and also from the previous performance you’d think some players are going to respond because they weren’t happy with the last performance.”

While Mitchell has stuck with his starting XV, hooker Pek Cowan (shoulder), Matt Dunning (concussion) and Jono Jenkins (broken ankle) have been replaced by Ben Whittaker, Kieran Longbottom and Luke Jones on the bench.

NSW coach Chris Hickey has retained the same 22-man squad that demolished the Lions 73-12 last week.

Mitchell said it would have been counter-productive for him to make massive changes to the starting line-up.

“The guys are working hard, they have great intent but things aren’t going for us at the moment,” he said.

“You don’t go throwing a lot of things out the door or react emotionally, you just have to keep working hard to get better and one example of confidence is sticking with the same group.

“You can’t worry about the past, you can’t control it.

“All you can control is this week.

“It’s a derby and it’s very important to us and we are very positive about how we are going to approach things and we are looking forward to responding.”

Western Force team: Dane Haylett-Petty, Scott Staniforth, Ryan Cross, James O’Connor, Nick Cummins, David Hill, Brett Sheehan, Richard Stanford, Matt Hodgson, Ben McCalman, Nathan Sharpe (capt), Sam Wykes, Tim Fairbrother, Ryan Tyrrell, Nic Henderson. Res: Ben Whittaker, Kieran Longbottom, Tom Hockings, Luke Jones, Chris O’Young, Sam Harris, Mitch Inman

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© 2010 AAP