Western Force coach John Mitchell has named a very youthful-looking team to face the Hurricanes at the Westpac Stadium, Wellington, in a Super 14 Round 13 match on Friday.

Mitchell was forced to delay the announcement of his 22 until this morning after assessing a number of injured players on Tuesday.

In-form centre Ryan Cross will undergo surgery on a fractured cheekbone on Wednesday and was unavailable for selection, handing 21-year-old Melbourne Storm Rugby League recruit Josh Tatupu his first opportunity in the starting XV.

Cross will be confined to the sidelines for three weeks after surgery, which rules him out of any further matches for the Western Force this season.

Tatupu has sat on the reserves bench on five occasions this season, but has just one cap to his credit, making his one and only Super 14 appearance in Week Three against the Lions in Johannesburg.

Tatupu joins a relatively inexperienced backline which includes 18-year-old WA product Dane Haylett-Petty on the right wing.

Haylett-Petty made a 16-minute cameo appearance on debut against the Chiefs last weekend after Nick Cummins sustained a broken leg.

The Durban-born Hale School product will make his first starting XV appearance while fellow local junior Kieran Longbottom has been retained on the reserves bench after a solid performance on Super 14 debut in the epic one-point victory over the Chiefs.

Longbottom, the only born and bred West Australian in the squad, occupied the loosehead prop position for all but 10 minutes of last Saturday's clash when Pek Cowan succumbed to a badly dislocated thumb.

Prop Gareth Hardy returns to the starting team for the first time in eight weeks after recovering from ankle ligament damage suffered during the Week 4 loss to the Crusaders at Subiaco Oval.

Hardy played for the Firepower RugbyWA Academy in their 113-7 curtain-raiser victory over the Singapore National team last Saturday.

Richard Brown returns to his familiar No.8 role after starting on the reserves bench against the Chiefs last weekend, while first try-scorer Matt Hodgson shifts from the back of the scrum to the blindside flank.

Flank Sam Wykes rejoins the reserves bench after overcoming a minor hamstring strain and has dual reason to celebrate following his selection in the Australian Under-20s squad alongside Western Force teammates Haylett-Petty and David Pocock earlier this week.

Wing Haig Sare also makes a shock return to the match 22 after a faster than expected recovery from ankle ligament damage.

Back row Scott Fardy has jetted off with the team to Wellington as 23rd man.

Western Force: 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Josh Tatupu, 12 James O'Connor, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau (vice-captain), 9 James Stannard, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Matt Hodgson, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 David Pusey, 3 Troy Takiari, 2 Tai McIsaac, 1 Gareth Hardy.
Replacements: 16 Luke Holmes, 17 Kieran Longbottom, 18 Sitaleki Timani, 19 Sam Wykes, 20 Chris O'Young, 21 Scott Daruda, 22 Haig Sare.

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