Force fight hard in SuperW loss to Japanese champs

Although the temperature hovered above 37C at the 4.30pm kick-off on Friday, the first half was a fast and entertaining affair featuring five tries.

Force hooker Sara Cline opened the scoring with a third-minute try but the Phoenix hit back with two in the space of five minutes.

Scores were level again at 14-14 in the 20th minute when Force fullback Aiysha Wigley danced through Tokyo's defence to touch down.

A yellow card to Force five-eighth Nicole Ledington in the 37th minute left the home side vulnerable, with Tokyo winger Yuina Yamamoto crossing less than a minute later for a 19-14 lead at the break.

Force coach Dylan Parsons made plenty of changes in the second half in a bid to give his entire squad minutes.

Powerful Force lock Michaela Leonard almost levelled the scores in the 52nd minute but her try was rubbed out on review due to a knock-on.

The Force controlled large parts of the game from that point on but were let down by a series of handling errors when in attacking positions.

In contrast, Tokyo were clinical when given a sniff, with Suzuha Okamoto crossing for her second try in the 68th minute to give her team a match-winning lead.

"For a first hit-out it was one of those pretty traditional trials where you get ups and downs," Parsons said.

"We used 30 players today. So using 30 players, we knew there was always going to be quite a bit of clunky bits.

"But some really good positives to take out of it as well.

"It was two big contrast in styles - we had our power game against their mobile, fit and speedy game.

"They showed that they're connected in how they're playing and what they're doing, because they've just come out of the back-end of a full season and a Championship."

The Force's pre-season campaign continues with a scrimmage against Tokyo at UWA Sports Park on Tuesday, before they play the Melbourne Rebels on March 2.

Australian Associated Press