Kuenzle makes popular injury return as Force start crunch period

The Western Force's finals hopes have received a massive boost with the return of Bayley Kuenzle for Saturday's clash with the Hurricanes.

Kuenzle returns for the first time in 2025 after suffering a long-term knee injury in club Rugby in July.

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It came at a cruel time for the 26-year-old, who emerged on national selector's radars after six tries in 12 games for the Force in 2024.

Kuenzle is the lone change to the starting side from a fortnight ago as the Force begins a crucial run of games for their top-six ambitions.

Simon Cron's side will face the 2024 Grand Finallists Chiefs and Blues in New Zealand before returning home to take on the ACT Brumbies.

The Force finish the season with a trip to Fiji to take on the Drua before facing the NSW Waratahs in what could be a finals eliminator.

"We want to get a win coming off a bye week and set ourselves up for that New Zealand trip," captain Jeremy Williams said on Tuesday.

"We're doing everything we can to get the job done on Saturday."

Williams and the Force were actively looking to avoid complacency coming off the bye, sitting three points ahead of the seventh place Highlanders.

"We're pretty focused on coming in fresh off the bye and getting back to our form post the bye week," the lock said.

"We haven't really spoken about where we sit on the ladder. We just want to take it week by week.

"There's a little bit of a danger around the bye week as well that you come in. The boys showed up really well yesterday and today so we hit the ground running and can't get stuck in this weekend."

FORCE (1-15): Marley Pearce, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Tom Robertson, Jeremy Williams (c), Darcy Swain, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Carlo Tizzano, Vaiolini Ekuasi; Nic White (vc), Ben Donaldson, Bayley Kuenzle, Hamish Stewart, Sio Tomkinson, Harry Potter, Mac Grealy

Replacements: Nic Dolly, Atu Moli, Josh Smith, Reed Prinsep (vc), Will Harris, Henry Robertson, Max Burey, George Poolman