The Western Force bid farewell to retiring flanker Matt Hodgson in grand style, thumping the NSW Waratahs 40-11 in Saturday night’s Super Rugby clash in Perth.

The Force ran in five tries to one in the bonus-point blitz, with Hodgson joining in on the fun with a 44th-minute try.

Hodgson put the icing on the cake by kicking a penalty on the final siren to send the 10,384 crowd into raptures.

NSW simply had no answers to an emotion-charged Force in the wet conditions.

The result was a sad end to the career of Waratahs lock Dean Mumm, who made a low-key exit to little fanfare in the 55th minute.

But it was party time for the Force and their favourite son Hodgson, who ended his 140-game Super Rugby career on a high.

Hodgson broke into tears as he addressed the crowd after the match.

The result meant the Force finished second in the Australian conference with a 6-9 record.

For the Waratahs, 2017 will be remembered as one of their worst ever seasons, with the franchise finishing with a woeful 4-11 record.

The Force made a perfect start with a try to winger Alex Newsome inside 54 seconds.

And when Waratahs scrumhalf Jake Gordon was ordered to the sin bin in the 11th minute for a blatant offside, the visitors were in trouble.

Force hooker Tatafu Polata-Nau crashed over in the 12th minute through a rolling maul, and the scoreline read 19-6 in the 35th minute when a sliding Marcel Brache was awarded a try when the TMO ruled he had grounded the ball correctly with his body.

Things went from bad to worse for the Waratahs on the stroke of half-time when they turned the ball over to gift Jono Lance a runaway 65m try.

But the biggest applause of the night arrived when Hodgson pounced on a Waratahs fumble to touch down shortly after half-time.

The scoreline read 31-6 at that stage, with the game effectively over.