The Emirates Western Force will head into their week one Investec Bank Super 14 clash against the Brumbies with winning form after a 31-12 victory in their third and final trial at ME Bank Stadium in Perth tonight.

The home side started strongly, with two converted tries and two penalty goals within the first 20 minutes.

James O’Connor opened the scoring, before Matt Hodgson barged over near the posts in the sixth minute. O’Connor’s subsequent conversion made the score 10-0.

Dominating territory, possession and the penalty count, the boys in blue crossed for a second time when Sam Harris burrowed over following a brilliant individual show of skill from winger Cameron Shepherd.

Shepherd added a further three points to the total with a penalty in the 20th minute to make the score 20-0.

The Reds pulled one back when Quade Cooper, wearing the unfamiliar no. 24 jersey, ghosted through the defence before dabbing a well-weighted grubber for Rod Davies, who dropped on the ball to score.

A neat move down the left flank allowed the Force to add a third try before the half hour mark, with Richard Brown grabbing a bobbling pass to dot down in the corner. The score remained 25-5 at half time.

The Reds started brightly in the second half, with fullback Peter Hynes slicing his way through the midfield to set up an attacking opportunity. Scrumhalf Will Genia pushed through a would-be tackler to score soon after, with Cooper’s conversion closing the margin to 25-12.

A skirmish after Nic Henderson was felled by a high shot resulted in a third Force penalty goal, with O’Connor taking the kick. The teenage fullback slotted another kick five minutes later, taking the lead to 31-12 after 58 minutes.

The final minutes saw both benches emptied, with all eight reserves seeing playing time for the home side.

Hodgson, O’Connor, Brett Sheehan, Nathan Sharpe and Cameron Shepherd looked ready for the real competition, whilst Mark Bartholomeusz controlled the game well. Pek Cowan was solid in the unfamiliar position of hooker, with both the scrum and lineout performing strongly. Cooper, Hynes, and Genia were impressive for the visitors.

The Emirates Western Force will host the Brumbies at ME Bank Stadium in Perth next Friday, 12 February, in round one of the 2010 Investec Bank Super 14.

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BY THE CLOCK
4th min - Penalty goal kicked by James O'Connor. Emirates Western Force lead 3-0
6th min - Try scored by Matt Hodgson. Converted by O'Connor. Emirates Western Force lead 10-0
14th min - Try scored by Sam Harris. Converted by O'Connor. Emirates Western Force lead 17-0
20th min - Penalty goal kicked by Shepherd. Emirates Western Force lead 20-0
29th min - Try scored by Rod Davies. Not converted by Quade Cooper. Emirates Western Force lead 20-5
34th min - Try scored by Richard Brown. Not converted by O'Connor. Emirates Western Force lead 25-5
HALF TIME: Emirates Western Force 25 Reds 5
42nd min -Try scored by Will Genia. Converted by Cooper. Emirates Western Force 25 lead 25-12
53rd min - Penalty goal kicked by O'Connor. Emirates Western Force lead 28-12
58th min - Penalty goal kicked by O'Connor. Emirates Western Force lead 31-12. Richard Stanford replaces Sam Wykes
62nd min - Matt Dunning and Chris O'Young replace Tim Fairbrother and Brett Sheehan.
68th min - Ben McCalman replaces Matt Hodgson
70th min - Ben Whittaker and Kieran Longbottom replace Pek Cowan and Nic Henderson
74th min - Stefano Hunt replaces James O'Connor
77th min - Mitch Inman replaces Dane Haylett-Petty
FULL TIME: Emirates Western Force 31 Reds 12
Emirates Western Force 31 (Hodgson, Harris, Brown tries; O’Connor 3 pens, 2 cons, Shepherd pen)
Reds 12 (Davies, Genia tries; Cooper con)
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Barra called for an absolute red card for Cooper, was there anything in it?

Sounds like a pretty sound performance, Puse gave Hodgson man of the match.
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Cooper and Hynes were really impressive from the reds.

Forces best players were JOC, Hodgeson and and Browne. The line out was also looking good.

I didn't see much of the incident but most of the brawls were just wallabies team mates showing off and making a joke of the game really.
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It was up the other end of the field, but Nick wend down like a sack of shit, so assuming Cooper did it, it must have been bad.

A weed like Cooper would need a chainsaw to drop a prop like that!

I reckon a fine line between Hodgeo and Browny for MOM, Bam seemed to be having trouble taking his hands off after the tackle.
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Apparently whatever he was calling Cooper for was to do with coming in late, so it may not have been the actual hit on Nic?
We had been talking so missed the actual initial call.
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