The Western Force cemented their status as Rapid Rugby favourites with clinical 51-14 win over the Malaysia Valke in their opening match.
The last time the two sides met as a prelude to last year's Bledisloe, the Force romped to a 74-10 victory but the Valke put early pressure on the hosts this time around.
However, it wasn’t long before the Force's up tempo style reaped scoreboard rewards, with two long range power tries to Marcel Brache and Henry Taefu.
The Valke hit back with a brilliant try of their own to close the gap to 16-7, finally matching the Force for pace.
Brad Lacey responded quickly for the home side, their support play stretching the Valke’s defensive lines.
The Valke attempted to slow the game with aggressive forward play, before the Force scored their fourth try on half-time, with a fantastic long range team effort finished off by Johan Bardoul.
"We're Back Boys!"
— Western Force (@westernforce) March 14, 2020
There's only one way to celebrate a first round win #ForceForever #RapidRugby pic.twitter.com/PkvzGkBHkz
The Valke turned to their forwards to try and pin the Force back, but despite some valiant defence a final try to Lacey saw the Force up 37-7 at halftime.
The Force restarted the match pinning the Valke in their own 22, but the visitors proved to show plenty of grit in defence to deny the home side on multiple occasions.
This was until, finally, Jack McGregor broke through to score, the effort effectively killing any hopes of a fight back for the visitors.
Chris Alcock then crossed moments later with a piece on individual brilliance to push the Force past the half century.
As the rain came down, the Valke finally began to assert some dominance at the scrum, and their efforts finally were rewarded with their second try of the night to Valentino Wellman seven minutes from time, which proved to be the final score of the night.
In the end, it was a performance that not only showed the strength of the Force in this competition, but also showed the level the other teams will need to go to match them.
In the other games of the round, the Fijian Latui started their season with a shock loss to newcomers the China Lions.
The Latui were the team that came closest to beating the Force last year during the Pacific exhibition series, but were ambushed in Suva by a Lions side who took advantage of ill discipline and forward dominance to deliver a controlled performance in the second half.
It was a similar upset in the final game of the round, with the South China Tigers putting an undercooked Samoa side to the sword in Perth. The Tigers looked in control from the outset, and look to be a vastly improved side from the team that took the field in last year’s Asian showcase series, which bodes well if the other teams are to meet the challenge of beating the Force.
RESULT
Force 51
Tries: Lacey 2, Bardoul, Alcock, Taefu, McGregor, Brache
Cons: Prior 6
Valke 14
Tries: Wellman, Jaggers
Cons: Nel 2
Other matches
Fijian Latui 22 - China Lions 29
Manuma Samoa 27 - South China Tigers 52
