Super Rugby Pacific: Western Force coach Simon Cron confident Kurtley Beale is ready to start in comeback game

Western Force coach Simon Cron has backed returning Wallabies great Kurtley Beale to make an instant impact and was confident he was ready to start in his first game in 10 months. A trip to Eden Park has been the pitfall of many an Australian rugby team and the Force have never won at the Auckland stronghold, but they will be boosted for Friday’s crucial Super Rugby Pacific clash against the Blues by the returning Beale. The 95-Test Wallaby has not played since tearing his Achilles last June after earning a return to the national team set-up during his short stint with the Force at the end of last season. After the Force offered Beale a lifeline, allowing him to rehab his injury with them, Cron made the call to start Beale at full back in his first game back since the injury. “There was a plan for a while now about it potentially being this week and this timing,” Cron said. “He had passed a lot of protocols around his physical side but he’s been really good, and he’s had a good three or four weeks of full training. “Now’s the right time bring him in and give him a good go at it. Starting him is important because it warms up his Achilles and let’s him keep running, so that’s what we chose to do.” Cron said Beale would likely take to the exercise bike at half-time to keep his Achilles warm at the break and said when he broached the idea of starting him, the 2011 John Eales Medalist was enthusiastic. “I asked KB how he felt about it, and he was really positive, and that gives you confidence that he feels like he’s ready. That’s important and then you’ve got to back him in,” he said. “He’s running really well. What he does add is an enormous presence on the field: he’s got a great voice, everyone in front of him does a lot of good stuff when he’s on the field, he communicates a lot. “He’s got beautiful running lines, great catch-pass skillset. All of those things that he’s renowned for, he still possesses.” Beale revealed he had contemplated retiring after suffering the Achilles injury last June and Cron praised the 36 year-old for his resolve. “I know that it’s not an easy path, no matter what age you are, with a ruptured Achilles, and you’ve got to be a really driven human and athlete to be able to work through that process and get yourself back to this level of rugby,” he said. “You can definitely see the times it’s tougher on him and he wasn’t as involved in the team at the start, more verbally than physically — mow that he’s been physically involved, you can see him starting to spike.” A Force win over the Blues would tighten their hold on a top six berth and potentially give them a nine-point buffer over the reigning champions in ninth. Cron said they had reviewed their defensive structures in the wake of the defeat to the Chiefs, but one thing they had not spoken about was their lack of wins at Eden Park. “Somebody asked m about it, and I didn’t know. We haven’t really chatted about that,” he said. “It’s a field, it’s grass, it’s white lines. It’s important we can perform on any surface at any time.”