12/02/2008 09:09

Perth - Western Force scrumhalf Matt Henjak will start his team's first Super 14 game of the season in South Africa on Friday, despite being investigated over an altercation which left teammate Haig Sare with a broken jaw.

According to the Australian Associated Press (AAP), wing Sare was on Tuesday withdrawn from the Force squad for the three game tour, after undergoing hospital treatment for his injuries.

An operation last night inserted a plate into Sare's face, and he will miss at least six weeks of action.

He had been due to start the first game against the Sharks on Friday.

Acting Force CEO Mitch Hardy said Henjak would tour, with a disciplinary procedure carrying on in South Africa - and both players involved have been told their careers at the Force were at risk.

"Matt will go with the team... at this point in time we are comfortable that we have carried sufficient interviews and investigations," Hardy said.

"Until that point in time Matt will be permitted to travel with the team, but there certainly is indications that a hearing will take place at some stage over the next one to two weeks so we can resolve this matter.

"You have got two player's careers that are on the line."

Coach John Mitchell said Henjak would start the Force's first game, despite his latest indiscretion.

"Yes he will... he deserves his selection. The team has put an enormous amount of work in the season into this first fixture," Mitchell said.

"It would be totally unfair on everyone in the organisation and the team if weren't to select the best players to go on the field."

The fracas, which took place at the Left Bank cafe bar and restaurant in East Fremantle on Sunday, is the latest setback to Henjak's career.

The No 9 was sent home from a Wallabies tour of South Africa in disgrace in 2005 after officials found he had thrown ice at a group of students in a Cape Town nightclub.

And late last year it was reported the Perth-based franchise secretly paid a South African national A$15 000 - who then subsequently dropped police charges and a civil case over an alleged assault.

That incident was reported to have occurred in a South African nightclub while Henjak was on tour with the Brumbies in 2004.