Western Force have been given a huge boost ahead of their Super rugby season opener against the Reds on Sunday with inspirational skipper Nathan Sharpe declared a certain starter.

Sharpe has been out of action for nearly a month after recovering from laparoscopic surgery to repair a hernia and his place in the clash at Suncorp Stadium was in doubt.

But a relieved first-year Force coach Richard Graham confirmed the 93-Test veteran Sharpe would take his place in the side.

"He (Sharpe) is fit and ready to go. He's trained all week with us and he'll be 100 per cent come match time on Sunday," Graham said.

"Modern science allows a little key hole surgery and he's recovered well from it. I've got no doubt there's a little bit of discomfort, but he's 100 per cent fit."

The only injury concern for Graham is new flyhalf Willie Ripia, who joined the Force from the Wellington based Hurricanes.

"Willie Ripia won't train today (Wednesday), we are going to give him until Friday. We do expect him to play and to be fit, but I don't see a need to rush him," Graham said.

"He's trained with us all pre-season, he played the first 60 minutes of the trials and he's in a good headspace himself.

"Someone stepped on him and he's a bit soft to be fair to him, but he's a back. Our expectation is that he'll be fit."

Graham replaces inaugural head coach of the Force John Mitchell, now coaching the Lions of Johannesburg, after spending a season as his assistant on the back of time coaching in the UK and also with the Wallabies working under Robbie Deans.

Injuries wreaked havoc on the Force last year, resulting in them winning just four games but Graham is confident that with some better luck in 2011 his team can seriously threaten for a finals berth this season.

"The correlation between those sides that win and the number of players used is significant, so we've had a good pre-season and fortunately we're in a pretty good position injury wise," Graham said.

"We are as confident as we can be, we've prepared well. There's a lot of talk about them (Reds) obviously and the expectation on them as a group. All we can control is ourselves and I'm really happy with where we're at with our preparation and I think we go into the game well prepared."

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