Rusty Force showing good signs

The Western Force opened their 2015 pre-season campaign with an impressive 31-21 victory over the Brumbies, but felt they were well below par.

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 race into a 17-0 lead and still lead 17-7 at half-time.

While the visitors claimed the better running of the third term, the Western Australians managed to close out the match with two tries in the final 20 minutes to run out 10-point victors.

Western Force coach Michael Foley said he was pleased with his sides opening 40 minutes, but there was still some areas that needed sharpening up.

"That first 40 was exactly what we wanted – it was a tough contest and we won that first twenty 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.

"If we play only like that next week and not better we should be a bit disappointed," Foley added.

"We lost our way but fought our way back. We're still rusty but we did some good things.

"I don't get carried away. It's just a marker in the sand."

@westernforce