Eight-try Lions dispatch Force to get up and running in Australia

The 42

7 hours ago

Western Force 7
Lions 54
IT DIDN'T LOOK like Andy Farrell was a happy man at half time, but his Lions team ran out comfortable winners over the Western Force in their opening match on Australian soil.
Finn Russell steered the ship superbly from out-half as he made a strong start in his claim to the Test number 10, the Scottish playmaker mixing delightful attacking touches and razor-sharp awareness with muscular defence and fine kicking.
Ireland's Joe McCarthy was the pick of the forward pack in Perth, his aggressive, powerful, industrious work in the tight rewarded with a second-half try as the Lions opened up.
Farrell will pick out lots for the Lions to improve upon – most notably their work at restarts, discipline errors in the first half, and consistency in defensive impact – yet he and his assistants enjoyed some of the freewheeling work that yielded eight tries.
The first big injury concern on tour is Welsh scrum-half Tomos Williams, who hurt his hamstring in the act of scoring his second try of the night at Optus Stadium. Williams has started this Lions campaign well, and now must hope it's nothing serious.
That second Williams try was perhaps the pick of the bunch from the Lions, with the busy Mack Hansen and James Lowe integrally involved in an 80-metre breakout effort sparked by a smart long pass by McCarthy in his own 22.
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Tomos Williams is the big injury concern. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
That said, the first Lions score – in just the second minute – was also a beauty. Patient, composed phase-play attack led to Russell picking out captain Dan Sheehan with an accurate cross-field kick.
Sheehan popped back inside to Lowe, who darted for the right corner but then had the presence of mind to slip a one-handed back inside to Sheehan, the hooker surging over the tryline.
The highly talented 20-year-old Henry Pollock featured prominently in Williams' first score, combining well with fellow back row Josh van der Flier to take an offload from the Irishman and then surge towards the line before calmly offloading to the Welsh halfback.
Pollock's classy chip and regather also laid the platform for McCarthy's second-half score, although a yellow card at the end of the first half was a frustration for the prodigious English back row.
That yellow came after a rather sloppy opening half in which the Lions gave up too many easy penalties and struggled badly under the Force's restarts as Scottish lock Scott Cummings had something of a nightmare in that area.
Farrell was highly animated while delivering his half-time words to the Lions and though the tourists then started the second half poorly, that breakout score finished by Williams soon had them up and running.
Finn Russell impressed for the Lions. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Ireland centre Garry Ringrose got his name on the scoresheet too, taking a classy inside ball from Hansen to finish after slick handling by midfielder Sione Tuipulotu and the impressively solid fullback Elliot Daly.
However, it was Ringrose's defensive work that made the biggest impression as he left big physical marks on the Force with his thunderous tackling. The collective defensive effort wasn't perfect but Ringrose's intent and physicality were impossible to miss.
Daly notched a first-half score after Russell made a clever decision to tap and run a penalty 40 metres out when the Force switched off in expectation of a line kick, while the third-time Lion finished another in the second half when replacement Marcus Smith sent him over.
After the Lions bench made an impact, Jack Conan in particular, Farrell's men finished with a flourish at Optus Stadium as Tuipulotu and Hansen combined to tee up replacement scrum-half Alex Mitchell.
The Force responded strongly to Sheehan's opening try, with skipper Nic White scoring just minutes later, but they were unable to do further damage despite enjoying their fair share of territory and possession.
The Western Australians never had the attacking class they needed to truly hurt the Lions, who now move quickly onto Brisbane for Wednesday's second game against Les Kiss' Queenslands Reds.
There is clearly lots hard work ahead for the Lions, but there were plenty of glimmers of Test potential in Perth.
Western Force scorers:
Tries: Nic White
Conversions: Ben Donaldson [1 from 1]
Lions scorers:
Tries: Dan Sheehan, Tomos Williams [2], Elliot Daly [2], Garry Ringrose, Joe McCarthy, Alex Mitchell
Conversions: Finn Russell [5 from 6], Marcus Smith [2 from 2]