British Lions begin tour with comprehensive victory but win marred by Williams injury

Wales Online

8 hours ago

The British & Irish Lions put the Western Force to the sword with a powerful second-half performance to claim a 54-7 victory in Perth.
Andy Farrell's side struggled at times during the first half as the home side put them under intense pressure up-front but they weathered the storm to score eight tries to get this tour up and running. The only negative was an injury to Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams who limped off early in the second half.
Williams scored a brace of tries in what was an excellent individual performance while Elliot Daly (twice), Dan Sheehan, Joe McCarthy, Garry Ringrose and Alex Mitchell also crossed the line.
Wallabies number nine Nic White scored the only try for Western Force.
The Lions made the perfect start when a well-timed cross-kick by Russell found Sheehan on the edge. Sheehan tapped the ball back to James Lowe who ghosted towards the touchline before his out of the back door offload found the Ireland hooker for the opening try with Russell adding the extras.
But this was far from one-way traffic as the Force hit back with a period of intense pressure. The home side's pack were extremely physical with their forwards making post-contact metres and the tip-on passes from the point of contact causing the Lions problems.
It was former Exeter Chiefs scrum-half White who claimed the first try for the Force as he sneaked underneath the Lions defence to score with Donaldson converting.
The Lions only conceded five penalties in 80 minutes against Argentina but they coughed up four in 10 minutes in Perth to put themselves under the cosh.
The Force continued to enjoy possession in the Lions' 22 and turned down three kickable penalties to go for the corner but the Lions were eventually saved by giant second-row Joe McCarthy who did a superb job at winning a turnover from a dangerous driving lineout from the force.
But the Lions weathered the storm and hit back with a stunning try. A lovely flat pass from Henry Pollock at the gainline found Josh van der Flier who then offloaded back to the young Englishman.
Pollock then exploded 35 metres up field into the Force five-metre line before offloading to Williams for a try with Russell converting.
The Lions caught the Force napping for their third try as Russell took a penalty quickly and raced into the home side's 22 before his pass found Daly for the score.
Russell added the extras but the Lions put themselves under pressure again with Pollock sent to the sin bin for killing the ball at the breakdown.
The Force went to the corner but some outstanding work from second-row Scott Cummings held the hosts up over the line to give the Lions a 21-7 lead at the interval.
Farrell's side began to flex their muscles after the break and after Force lock Sam Carter spilled the ball forward in the visitors' 22 the Lions went on the attack.
Mack Hansen offloaded to Lowe who raced clear before exchanging passes with Williams who claimed his second try at the far right-hand corner.
But the outstanding Welshman injured himself in the act of scoring and was forced to leave the field with a lower limb injury.
The Lions backline clicked into gear with some beautiful passing from Russell, Lowe, Hansen and Daly putting Ringrose over for the try.
Pollock was the architect of their sixth try after regathering his sensational chip over the top of the Force defence.
He was brought down just short of the line but the ball was recycled for McCarthy to touch down at the corner with Russell converting.
The Lions were in no mood to let up with a nice pass from Marcus Smith putting Daly over for his second score before Mitchell put the icing on the cake with a long-range try at the death.
Lions: E Daly; M Hansen, G Ringrose, S Tuipulotu, J Lowe; F Russell, T Williams; P Schoeman, D Sheehan (c), T Furlong, S Cummings, J McCarthy, T Beirne, J Van der Flier, H Pollock.
Replacements: R Kelleher, A Porter, W Stuart, O Chessum, J Conan, A Mitchell, H Jones, M Smith.
Western Force: T Robertson, B Paenga-Amosa, O Hoskins, S Carter, D Swain, W Harris, N Champion de Crespigny, V Ekuasi; N White (c), A Harford, D Pietsch, H Stewart, M Proctor, M Grealy, B Donaldson.
Replacements: N Dolly, M Pearce, T Tauakipulu, L Faifua, R Prinsep, H Robertson, M Burey, B Kuenzle.