BRUMBIES TOO STRONG FOR FORCE AT NIB

Mar 11 • General News, Super Rugby • 1407 Views • Comments Off on BRUMBIES TOO STRONG FOR FORCE AT NIB

The Western Force has fallen to the Brumbies in Perth, after a courageous effort by the West Australian side that refused to give up until the final minute.

Coming within 10 points of the Canberrans twice within the match, the Force never stopped competing throughout the entirety of the contest. Tries to Luke Morohan and Ben Tapui would not be enough to stop the competition leaders from claiming their third victory in a row for 2016.

Western Force head coach Michael Foley said he was happy with the way his team played, with the focus moving forward being on consistency around the basic areas.

“I thought the guys played some really good rugby out there,” he said.

“At the end of the day, if you were to compare the two teams, they did the basics a little better than us and that’s indicative of a team that’s right at the top of the competition.

“After a difficult start we got into our rhythm, and I thought through the middle part of the game we played the way we wanted to play.

“The tries we scored on were good tries, and perhaps tries we wouldn’t have scored before, and it’s impossible when you have a result that goes against you not to be disappointed about it.

“We have to keep going in the right direction, and we can’t deviate from that and become more consistent around some of the basics.”

The Brumbies opened up the scoring early in the match, with Christian Lealiifano splitting the uprights in the third minute to open up a three-point advantage.

The Force’s maul defence was tested constantly throughout the first half, with the Brumbies being aggressive on penalty calls, electing to kick into touch multiple times in the early stages of the first half.

Constantly being backed up by the Brumbies maul it began to take it’s toll on the Force, with Pek Cowan being sent to the sin bin after collapsing the maul in the 14th minute.

Only a minute later the Brumbies were able to capitalise on the man advantage, with Brumbies captain Stephen Moore pushing the ball over the line after he collected the ball from the back of a maul to put up the first major of the contest. Christian Lealiifano’s conversion attempt made it through the uprights to put the score at 10-0.

Scott Fardy broke the line in the 23rd minute of the match; beating a tackle and offloading through to inside centre Matt Toomua who went across the try line uncontested for the Brumbies second try of the opening half. Christian Lealiifano continued his form with the boot, converting the kick from the left hand side and putting the score at 17-0.

The Force started to surmount some pressure on the Brumbies defence, with Jono Lance flicking a pass behind the back to Luke Morohan with pinpoint accuracy, allowing Morohan to stroll through uncontested putting the Force’s first points on the board. Jono Lance converted the kick attempt from directly in front, making the score 17-7 in the 35th minute.

Sam Carter broke the line for the Brumbies in the 56th minute, working his way into the 22, allowing winger Joe Tomane to collect the ball and cut his way through the Force defence to place the ball under the posts. This would set up Christian Lealiifano from directly in front, with his kick putting the score at 24-7.

In a spirited effort, the Force began to come back into the match with Peter Grant setting up Dane Haylett-Petty to run through and quickly flick the ball across to Luke Morahan who then threw a pass on the inside to Ben Tapui, who cut through the Brumbies defence and running in by himself placed the ball directly behind the posts. Peter Grant put up his first points in a Western Force jersey, converting the kick attempt to put the score at 24-14 in the 66th minute.

Josh Mann-Rea took the ball off the back of a rolling maul, and after a look upstairs by the TMO was deemed to have grounded the ball over the try-line, which was then followed by Christian Lealiifano’s fifth successful kick from as many attempts and ended the night with the score at 31-14 in favour of the Brumbies.