Rugby-Farrell pleased with Lions grit after early Force onslaught in Perth
FILE PHOTO: Rugby Union - British & Irish Lions v Argentina - Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland - June 20, 2025 British & Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo
PERTH (Reuters) -Coach Andy Farrell was pleased with how the British & Irish Lions stayed in the contest early on against the Western Force on Saturday before running away with a 54-7 victory to kick off their tour of Australia.
Lions management had questioned whether the tour matches against Super Rugby teams would be competitive enough to prepare the Lions properly for the test series with so many Wallabies in camp and unavailable to play.
The Force, the weakest of Australia's four Super Rugby teams, made a mockery of those fears in the opening quarter of Saturday's match when they held the tourists at 7-7 and had a string of penalties inside the Lions 22-metre line.
"The Force played the ball from everywhere and kept the ball in play, that's exactly what we wanted and they tested us fully," Farrell said.
"I was happy with how we stayed in the fight because it was a tough old start to the game. At 7-7, everything was locked wasn't it really? So I thought we stayed in the game really well.
"We reassessed at halftime and then hit them on the break which was pretty pleasing, and after that I thought our defence was pretty strong."
The Lions were beaten 28-24 by Argentina in their first outing in Dublin last week and Farrell said there was still plenty to work on despite the lopsided scoreline in Perth. "There's fantastic learnings for us again," he added. "We had a few things to fix, mainly our discipline, but once we gained a little bit of composure, I thought the second half was a little bit better.
"Some nice stuff but obviously, at this stage in the tour, a lot still to do."
The Lions play the Queensland Reds, New South Wales Waratahs, ACT Brumbies and an invitational Australia-New Zealand XV over the next three weeks before the first test against the Wallabies in Brisbane on July 19.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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