Force Soar Past the Eagles
September 9, 2018
In their first NRC home game, the Western Force outran the resilient NSW Country Eagles outfit by 26 points.
A classic NRC style matchup saw both teams stacked up a large number of points on the board finishing with a final score of 54 -28.
It was the Force who attacked first with star winger Marcel Brache crashing over the line off the back of a dominant scrum to score the match’s first try.
The NSW Country Eagles weren’t going to lie down easily as inside centre Will McDonnell started to carve up the Western Force defence with his footwork.
But the Force displayed some hard hitting defence lead by winger Masivesi Dakuwaqa motivating the team with a huge hit on the Eagles winger.
As the Force pushed down the field Marcel Brache pulled yet another rabbit out of hat catching his own chip and chase the score under the posts.
The Force forwards continued to show off some high-class rugby, putting the Eagles scrum on ice as well as dominating the breakdown.
Some slick passing from the Force led to another five pointers with Dakuwaqa getting over the line off a brilliant inside step.
It seemed impossible for skipper Ian Prior to miss in the game nailing all of his early kicks increasing the lead to 21-0 midway through the first half.
Former Force player and current NSW fullback Alex Newsome lead the comeback for Eagles scoring their first try to cut back into the lead 21-7.
Building pressure once more the Western Force slowly pushed up the field and flanker Chris Alcock was the next to put more points on the board with a brilliant pushover try on the halftime whistle.
The fans hardly had time to draw breath coming out of the second half as Masivesi Dakuwaqa brought the hill to its feet scoring a try off a brilliant run down from the right-hand side of the field.
The Eagles hit back shortly after with captain Paddy Ryan crashing under the posts breaking through a number of Force tackles to set the score at 35-14
The NSW Country Eagles weren’t going to go down without a fight showing great hands as their winger Apolosi Latunipulu exploited the overlap bringing his team back 35-21.
Jed Holloway showed some class breaking through the Western Force line enabling the Eagles to creep up on the Force’s lead narrowing the margin to seven points with eight minutes remaining.
Realising how close NSW was to take the lead the Force sprung into action formulating phases to wear down the Eagles sending Harrison Orr over to give them a cushioning 40-28 lead.
Looking to seal the win the Force didn’t stand on ceremony using their speed out wide to gain territory.
Fullback Jack McGregor made a brilliant run at the line forcing a penalty try off a high tackle from Eagles fly-half Mark Mason resulting in referee James Quin to pull out the yellow card.
With the clock now down to zero, the Force looked to close out the game in style carving up the Country Eagles defence yet again.
With ample space opening on the left side of the field, the Force sent the ball wide to winger Rod ‘Rocket’ Davies turning on the jets to score in the corner finishing an extremely entertaining match with a brilliant piece of running rugby.