Ruthless Lions run in eight tries to down Force 54-7 in Perth
PERTH, June 28 (Reuters) - The British & Irish Lions gave the Western Force a lesson in ruthless finishing as they kicked off their Australia tour with an ultimately comfortable 54-7 victory in front of a big crowd at Perth Stadium on Saturday.
Tomos Williams and Elliot Daly both crossed twice with skipper Dan Sheehan, Garry Ringrose, Joe McCarthy and Alex Mitchell also scoring as a much-changed Lions team bounced back after their 28-24 loss to Argentina in Dublin last week.
Henry Pollock's first start in a Lions shirt did not disappoint with a line break to set up one try and a chip-and-chase earning the field position for another, as well as a yellow card late in the first half.
Flyhalf Finn Russell, who kicked five of six conversions before being replaced, gave a masterclass in playmaking to reinforce his position as favourite to lead the Lions backline in the test series against Australia in late July and August.
The Force did enough to assuage the fears of Lions management that the tour matches would not be competitive and a solitary try from veteran Wallabies scrumhalf Nic White hardly did justice to their contribution to the contest.
Hooker Sheehan, making his Lions debut, gave the tourists the perfect start with a try inside two minutes, batting Russell's crosskick to James Lowe then taking a return pass to touch down.
The Force intercepted the restart and came straight back at them, however, and White went over in the fifth minute during a period of sustained pressure that continued for another 10 minutes.
Some of the Lions defending attracted the ire of Ben O'Keeffe, who will referee the first Wallabies test, but they held out through four penalties before turning the ball over and scoring a second try.
Good support from Pollock saw the 20-year-old number eight explode through the defensive line before finding Williams off the deck out of the tackle to allow the scrumhalf a short run to the line.
A quickly taken tap penalty from Russell wrong-footed the Force and led to the third try four minutes before the break, the flyhalf racing to within metres of the line before finding fullback Daly in support.
Russell kicked his third conversion to give the Lions a 21-7 lead but the Force charged back again and Pollock paid the price for the earlier indiscipline at the breakdown and was shown a yellow card just before halftime.
The young loose forward was still in the sin bin when the Lions broke out of defence for a fourth try, Lowe again the provider as Williams went in for his second before limping off the pitch with what looked like a hamstring injury.
The Lions continued to show a ruthless streak every time they managed to get the ball wide with centre Ringrose going over in the 52nd minute and lock McCarthy in the 56th after Pollock had turned to his boot to breach the defensive line.
The game got a bit scrappy in the last 10 minutes as the benches were cleared but Williams' replacement Mitchell made sure the tourists had the last say, running away to complete the scoring after the fulltime hooter.
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