{"id":837150,"date":"2026-08-01T05:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/837150\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T05:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:26:11","slug":"former-australia-u20-international-inks-new-deal-with-the-western-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/837150\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Australia U20 international inks new deal with the Western Force"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Published: 2 hours ago | 31 July 2026 22:45 EDT
Updated: 2 hours ago | 31 July 2026 22:46 EDT <\/p>\n

mens<\/p>\n

super-rugby-pacific<\/p>\n

Taj Annan of Australia runs with the ball during the International match between New Zealand U20 and the Junior Australia Wallabies at Sky Stadium on June 03, 2023 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Masanori Udagawa\/Getty Images) \"Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

Former Australia<\/a> U20 international Taj Annan has re-signed with the Western Force<\/a> for another two years, with the Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> outfit making his news official about 140 days after his club debut in mid-March.<\/p>\n

Annan has spent time with the Queensland Reds<\/a> and NRL side the Newcastle<\/a> Knights but has found a rugby-playing home out west. The midfielder came off the bench for the Force about five months ago and will continue to wear the blue jersey for another couple of seasons.<\/p>\n

The Brisbane Boys\u2019 College product represented Queensland Premier Rugby side Easts before first getting a Super Rugby opportunity in Queensland, debuting for the Reds in the opening round of the 2023 campaign.<\/p>\n

Newcastle-born Annan was rewarded with higher honours later that year, selected in the Australia U20<\/a> squad for the World Rugby Junior World Championship in South Africa. The centre made a few appearances at the tournament, including a 78-minute shift against New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Annan would go on to play 13 Super Rugby matches for the Reds before spending some time in the NRL, before returning to rugby union with the Force. Coach Simon Cron named Annan to debut for the club against eventual champions the Hurricanes<\/a> in round five.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of the team that we had last year we want to keep under our roof and Taj is one of those,\u201d Cron said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came into the club with a good knowledge of the game and high communication skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a very talented athlete but was carrying a number of injuries that were preventing him from achieving his best.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see him as a high ceiling player that we can invest in. He\u2019ll add to our environment both culturally and as an athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Annan has only played 12 minutes of Super Rugby Pacific for the Force, but the 22-year-old is primed for a big couple of seasons ahead. The utility back recently underwent double hip surgery but is expected to be fully fit for pre-season in November.<\/p>\n

The Force have made a series of pivotal signing announcements in recent weeks, having secured the services of Ruben O\u2019Neill from the Chiefs. Harry McLaughlin-Phillips is heading west from the Reds and Aden Ekanayake has signed on after time with the Australia Sevens side.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club is moving in a good direction, as shown by the strong finish to last season, so I\u2019m thrilled to commit long term,\u201d Annan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to repay the club for the faith they\u2019ve shown in me, offering me the opportunity to come over last year. I also feel like I\u2019ve got unfinished business in rugby too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic group over here. We speak about WA being our chosen home and it is to me, as it\u2019s a great club to be part of and an awesome place to live in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful to the Force medical staff who\u2019ve worked closely with me, putting time into my body to be firing fit and have my best rugby ahead of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coaching staff have been fantastic for me, helping me develop and I just want to put my best foot forward to keep improving at the Force.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published: 2 hours ago | 31 July 2026 22:45 EDT Updated: 2 hours ago | 31 July 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-837150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}