Match Centre: Force 11-27 Brumbies

Force 11-27 Brumbies, HBF Park
Scorecard

Noah Lolesio contributed with 17 points as Brumbies defeated Western Force 27-11 in the opening round of Super Rugby AU at HBF Park on Friday.

An early infringement from Brumbies saw Force score their first points in the fifth minute through a penalty kick from skipper Ian Prior.

Brumbies thought they scored the opening try of the game but was turned down after Marty Banks had a forward pass in the build up. The leveller came in the 18th minute when Lolesio kicked a three-pointer of his own.

The visitors went on to level the scores at the start of the second quarter with Brumbies seized the lead after the fly-half made most of the pass from Nic White for the opening try of the game and also followed with the extras making the scoreline 3-10.

Force chance of levelling the scores took a beating after they were denied a try when lock Jeremy Thrush formed a ruck as he was looking to go over the line and as a result Prior kicked a penalty goal for Force. However, his effort was cancelled out just before the break as Lolesio's kicked his 16th point in the opening half.

Brumbies extended their momentum into the second half when Len Ikitau made a brilliant break and offloaded to Irae Simone as he crossed the whitewash and Lolesio improved it making the scoreline 20-6.

They suffered a temporary setback in the 59th minute when James Slipper was sin-binned for repeated infringements but Force failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage. Just as Brumbies returned to full strength, they managed their third try with this time fullback Tom Banks creating the space for replacement Issak Fines to dot down.

With four minutes left in the game, Force got some consolation with a try from Tomas Cubelli but Brumbies went on to complete a 16-point victory.