Western Force outside back Sam Spink is feeling fit and ready to bolster the side for Saturday’s Super Rugby Pacific clash with the Queensland Reds after two games out with a calf injury.
The reigning Nathan Sharpe medalist is a welcome addition to the Force side for the Round 5 encounter at HBF Park, alongside Wallabies scrum-half Nic White.
The Englishman said it had been hard watching from the sidelines during the Force’s winless run, having hurt his calf in the Round 2 loss to the Melbourne Rebels, but was fit and firing to return.
“Feeling really good actually,” Spink told reporters on Thursday. “Frustrating start, you work hard throughout the whole pre-season to get your body to a certain point and a little thing like a calf gets in the way.
“I was really frustrated for it to come around in that second round but the physios and medical team have been class once again, watching my load and getting me back onto the training paddock, so I feel very sharp today.
“Watching the boys at home in front of our home fans putting in a performance that we weren’t proud of as a whole squad was pretty tough and very much itching to get out there and try to help the boys as much as I could.”
Force head coach Simon Cron apologized to the fans for his side’s performance following last Friday’s 22-14 home defeat to Moana Pasifika at HBF Park and Spink said the players acknowledged the display was a “complete write-off”.
“Looking back on the two games before, they were performances we were actually quite proud of, but we knew we hadn’t quite gone the full way and been consistent enough to get the win,” he said.
“Friday night was a complete write-off, it wasn’t something we’re proud of and certainly not a showing we would think to do again.
“It’s so easy to feel sorry for ourselves and go into our shell, but it’s about taking the learnings, bounce back, and get excited about another home game against one of the in-form teams, and what an opportunity it is to kickstart our season.”
While the Force are winless, the Reds are sitting second with three wins from four games, their only defeat a narrow golden-point loss to the table-topping Hurricanes in Super Round.
But Spink said the Force would focus on themselves and rectifying their own deficiencies, not their upcoming opposition.
“Given the start we’ve had, we can’t focus too hard on them. A lot of our focus needs to be on us and fixing the things we can do,” Spink said.
“But if you were looking at them, we had a great win against them in the pre-season and a lot of the in-form teams struggled to come here last season and this was a fortress for us.
“I’m not too worried about who’s coming across on the other side of the pitch, if we focus on ourselves and put in a performance we can be proud of, we can beat one of the in-form teams and put our stamp on the league.”
The Force face the Reds from 4:35pm at HBF Park after the Force women take on the Reds women at 2:05pm as part of a Saturday double-header.
The double-header is part of Kids’ Round, where the first 1,500 kids through the gates at HBF Park will receive a $20 food and beverage voucher to spend at the game. The vouchers will be distributed at Gate 1, via the Western Force Cheer Crew.
The double-header will be live on Stan Sport, while there will be regular updates @WesternForce on social media. The SRP men’s game will also be live on 9GEM.
