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The Western Force has opened its 2015 pre-season campaign with a 31-21 victory over the ACT Brumbies at McGillivray Oval this evening.
The home side dominated the first half of the match, transferring pressure into points with three unanswered tries to Luke Morahan, Chris Alcock and Marcel Brache to lead 17-7 at half-time.
While the visitors claimed the better running of the third term, the Western Australians closed out the match with two tries in the final 20 minutes to run out 10-point victors.
Western Force head coach Michael Foley said there was some positive signs ahead of the club’s 10th season of Asteron Life Super Rugby.
“That first 40 was exactly what we wanted; it was a tough contest and we won that first 20 and came out on top at half-time,” he said.
“We definitely wanted to win as much as they wanted to win and I thought we played a good first 40, however, there were a few good chances to score early in that second half that we didn’t take and we’ve got to get better than that.
“I think we’re still rusty but we did some good things and, as I said to the guys, they should be very pleased with coming out here against a tough opposition, that we didn’t get to face in the pre-season last year.”
After withstanding an initial Brumbies burst, the Western Force was first to score when Kyle Godwin found space out wide before grubbering through for Morahan to run onto the ball and cross in the seventh minute. Sias Ebersohn slotted added conversion for a 7-0 lead.
Four minutes into the second quarter, Alcock added a second when he pounced on a loose ball from the lineout to outpace the converging defence over the 35 metres to give the home side a 12-0 advantage.
The Brumbies cause was hindered when Brumbies lock Tom Staniforth was shown a yellow card in the 32nd minute for dragging down a rolling maul, with the Force capitalising by sending the ball wide to winger Brache, who scored in the corner to extend the lead to 17-0.
The Brumbies wrestled back momentum in the final minutes of the half, with David Pocock crossing on the stroke of half-time to bring the visitors to within 17-7 at the break.
The ACT side then took the early running of the second term, controlling the match and shortening the lead to 17-14 when Christian Lealiifano benefited from some quick passing in contact by his teammates to cross next to the posts.
Starved of the run of play in the third quarter, the Force returned fire in the fourth – pushing the lead out to 24-14 when Wilhelm Steenkamp crashed over from the base of the ruck before Zack Holmes delivered a neat inside pass for newcomer Mitch Scott to burrow over the try line. Holmes added both conversions for a 31-14 lead with 14 minutes remaining.
The Brumbies responded in the closing seconds of the match when Sean Doyle crossed off the back of the rolling maul, but it wasn’t enough with the Force running out 31-21 victors.
The Western Force will play their final pre-season match next Saturday, 31 January against the Asia Pacific Dragons at McGillivray Oval, Mt Claremont. Kick-off is at 5pm. Tickets are available in the Western Force Team Store and at the venue on match day.
2014 Asteron Life Super Rugby – Pre-Season
Friday, 23 January 2015 at McGillivray Oval, Perth
Kick-off: 5pm
Western Force 31 (Luke Morahan, Chris Alcock, Marcel Brache, Mitchell Scott, Wilhelm Steenkamp tries; Sias Ebersohn 1/3 conversions, Zack Holmes 2/2 conversions) defeat Brumbies 21 (David Pocock, Christian Lealiifano, Sean Doyle tries; Rodney Iona 2/2 conversions, Nic White 1/1 conversion)
Yellow Cards: Tom Staniforth (32nd min), Wilhelm Steenkamp (76th minute)
Red Cards: Nil
Referee: Andrew Lees
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