todd4
Dave Cowper (27)
Former Western Force scrum-half and Australian Sevens star James "Chucky" Stannard will be back next season, two years after he last played Super rugby for the club.
Stannard has answered an SOS from the Force to fill the vacancy left by Justin Turner, who is expected to be sidelined for nine months after injuring a knee in last month's IRB junior world championships.
Stannard, 27, who is in Wallaby Sevens camp preparing for the Commonwealth Games in October in New Delhi, had been weighing up offers from French clubs and interest from the ACT Brumbies.
"It would be great to get back to Perth and back into Super rugby," Stannard said.
"I'm pretty excited. I've been thinking about it for a while."
Stannard is expected to finalise his contract with the Force next week.
Chief executive Vern Reid said talks were "well down the track".
"James has a strong desire to return to Perth. We are now finetuning his contract," Reid said.
Force assistant coach Richard Graham said Stannard would be a good fit for the club
"He's good mates with a lot of the boys that are still here and very familiar with Perth," Graham said.
Stannard moved to Perth in 2006 from Brisbane Souths and won RugbyWA's prestigious PG Hampshire Award for best and fairest when he was playing fly-half for Palmyra.
When he was selected in the Force academy two years later, coaching staff channelled his skills to the base of the scrum.
A few months later, he made his Super debut against the Cheetahs when Matt Henjak was sacked after a hotel brawl with teammate Haig Sare.
He went on to play a handful of games before being released at the end of that year when the Force signed Josh Valentine and kept Chris O'Young and Turner.
Stannard joined the Brumbies' program in Canberra and has been playing club rugby for Eastwood in Sydney. He received a surprise call-up to the Australian Sevens in 2009.
The squad was training in Canberra and Stannard went along to make up the numbers as opposition.
A couple of weeks later he was called by selectors and played in the last two rounds of the IRB tournament.
He signed an ARU Sevens contract this year and has excelled in the shortened version of the game, amassing more than 150 points.
He has captained the side twice, including during the London tournament where he led Australia to their first win since 2002 and was named player of the tournament.
This article was in the West Australian on 10th July but have not seen any follow-up to confirm that he has signed a contract...
Stannard has answered an SOS from the Force to fill the vacancy left by Justin Turner, who is expected to be sidelined for nine months after injuring a knee in last month's IRB junior world championships.
Stannard, 27, who is in Wallaby Sevens camp preparing for the Commonwealth Games in October in New Delhi, had been weighing up offers from French clubs and interest from the ACT Brumbies.
"It would be great to get back to Perth and back into Super rugby," Stannard said.
"I'm pretty excited. I've been thinking about it for a while."
Stannard is expected to finalise his contract with the Force next week.
Chief executive Vern Reid said talks were "well down the track".
"James has a strong desire to return to Perth. We are now finetuning his contract," Reid said.
Force assistant coach Richard Graham said Stannard would be a good fit for the club
"He's good mates with a lot of the boys that are still here and very familiar with Perth," Graham said.
Stannard moved to Perth in 2006 from Brisbane Souths and won RugbyWA's prestigious PG Hampshire Award for best and fairest when he was playing fly-half for Palmyra.
When he was selected in the Force academy two years later, coaching staff channelled his skills to the base of the scrum.
A few months later, he made his Super debut against the Cheetahs when Matt Henjak was sacked after a hotel brawl with teammate Haig Sare.
He went on to play a handful of games before being released at the end of that year when the Force signed Josh Valentine and kept Chris O'Young and Turner.
Stannard joined the Brumbies' program in Canberra and has been playing club rugby for Eastwood in Sydney. He received a surprise call-up to the Australian Sevens in 2009.
The squad was training in Canberra and Stannard went along to make up the numbers as opposition.
A couple of weeks later he was called by selectors and played in the last two rounds of the IRB tournament.
He signed an ARU Sevens contract this year and has excelled in the shortened version of the game, amassing more than 150 points.
He has captained the side twice, including during the London tournament where he led Australia to their first win since 2002 and was named player of the tournament.
This article was in the West Australian on 10th July but have not seen any follow-up to confirm that he has signed a contract...
