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Jeremy Thrush handed captain's armband while fellow former All Black Richard Kahui set to debut for Western Force

Jeremy Thrush. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Lock Jeremy Thrush will lead the Force when the team faces the ACT Brumbies in the Super Rugby AU round 4 clash at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney’s inner west this Saturday.

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The veteran second-rower’s promotion to captain comes as the Force make four changes to their match squad, including the sidelining of regular skipper Ian Prior through injury.

Prior’s place at scrumhalf will be taken by Wallaby Nick Frisby, who joined the Force earlier this month after several seasons in the UK, most recently with the Glasgow Warriors. In another change to the starting XV, inside centre Henry Taefu is promoted to the starting line-up in place of Nick Jooste, who drops out of the match 23 this week.

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Thrush is an experienced campaigner who has previously captained the Hurricanes and has more than 100 Super Rugby caps to his credit. His leadership from the centre of the pack will be a key factor for the Force against the Brumbies, who so far have two wins from as many starts in the competition.

Frisby spent five seasons with the Queensland Reds, earning 66 Super Rugby caps, before moving to the UK. Taefu, meanwhile, returns to the starting line-up after being on the bench for the clashes against the Waratahs and the Reds. He has played a crucial role for the Force over the past two seasons, as well as representing Samoa in the 2019 World Cup, and will add a physical edge in the Force midfield.

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There are two changes on the bench where former All Black Richard Kahui, who signed for the Force last week, and young prop Tom Sheminant have been brought into the match 23.

Kahui, who has spent the past seven years playing in Japan and has 68 previous Super Rugby caps for the Chiefs and the Highlanders, takes Taefu’s place among the reserves as cover at centre or wing. The 2011 World Cup winner is highly rated by Force director of rugby Matt Hodgson who is eager to see him get his first run in the blue and black.

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“It’s not just his on-field exploits that we’re excited about, as his insight and winning mentality are sure to prove invaluable for the entire team,” Hodgson said.

“His knowledge of the game, defensive ability and the level of professionalism he brings to training will be huge for our season.”

Home-grown Nedlands talent Sheminant replaces injured veteran Wallaby prop Greg Holmes, who featured against the Waratahs and the Reds over the past two weeks.

The Force take on the ACT Brumbies this Saturday night at Leichhardt Oval from 5:15pm (AWST), live on Fox Sports and Kayo.

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Western Force: Jack McGregor, Byron Ralston, Marcel Brache, Henry Taefu, Brad Lacey, Jono Lance, Nick Frisby, Brynard Stander, Tevi Ferris, Henry Stowers, Fergus Lee-Warner, Jeremy Thrush (c), Kieran Longbottom, Feleti Kaitu’u, Angus Wagner. Reserves: Andrew Ready, Chris Heiber, Tom Sheminant, Ollie Atkins, Ollie Callan, Jacob Abel, Richard Kahui, Kyle Godwin.

– Western Force Rugby

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'They smelt it': Scott Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' vulnerability

Even the 20/30 cappers did too I reckon.


IDK, I think Jordan has a limited life span in this side unless he can develop more to his game. Like you go on to mention, I think theyres more important things to worry about than the effectiveness of someone's extra strings, or secondary components to their game.


Bash backs are Fosters thing, and to a large part they've made it work. Theyre now one of the best teams in the world.


They boy's trucked it up a bit against Italy in the redzone, and against France, wasn't that effective without the right players probably.


Try and take a look at it this way. Dissapointed Havili and Blackadder were in the side? Havili despite clearly shown that he can't do what the team needs at 12 was kept on for the RWC. Back goes down and he brings in Blackadder who doesn't play. Refuses to drop Christie when he should and look who starts this season. Beauden Barret not playing well enough to keep his 10 jersey but we gotta keep him in the side. Weve only got one 8, we stuff developing another I'll just play Ardie every game.


This years team wasn't burdened overly with injuries but they were in every position Razor might have wanted to try and development, severely limiting options. I'm not defending Razor as there was also plenty of other opportunity to make up for it and he was a little gunshy, but I'm also not going to overly criticise him because he chose cohesion over a black slate.

How long are we going to keep blaming All Black failings on Ian Foster.

I think more and more people are on board with it being time to try alternatives, but then again, how would they have reacted to a loss against Italy? 😉

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