Posted
The British and Irish Lions hammered the Barbarians 59-8 in Hong Kong in a convincing start to their tour en route to a much-anticipated Test series in Australia.
Stand-in captain Paul O’Connell got the Lions off to the best possible start as he scored the first of eight tries, including two from winger Alex Cuthbert and another brace from half-back Mike Phillips.
Irish lock O’Connell, the 2009 tour skipper, was filling in on armband duties for the injured Sam Warburton, and he touched down in the 28th minute for his first try in 12 appearances in the Lions’ famous red shirt.
The match was played in stifling conditions on the hottest day of the year in the southern Chinese city, where the mercury nudged 35 degrees Celsius in mid-afternoon and had dropped only slightly to 32 degrees by the 7:30 pm (local time) kick-off.
“It’s a tremendous win,” said Phillips, who was named man-of-the-match. “It was tough conditions … obviously there were some mistakes but that’s a great way to start the tour off.”
England fly half Owen Farrell, wearing the Lions number 10 jersey for the first time, was quickly in the thick of the action and got the Lions on the board with a 40-metre penalty after three minutes.
Minutes later Farrell was the focus of the first mini brawl of the tour when he was sucker-punched by his Saracens club team-mate Schalk Brits at the breakdown.
Australian-based referee Steve Walsh initially gave the penalty against the England international but reversed his decision, correctly, after the incident was replayed on the stadium’s big screen, and waved a yellow card at Brits.
The game was scrappy for much of the first half with ball frequently spilled by sweaty hands, but the Barbarians managed to level the scores just before Brits returned from the sin-bin with an Elliot Daly penalty in the 16th minute.
Seconds later Farrell put the Lions ahead with his second successful kick, and after O’Connell’s try they were never headed.
Farrell enjoyed a successful night with the boot, landing six of seven attempts, but was replaced before the hour by Ireland’s Johnny Sexton after a poor handling display.
Solid display
Phillips did his chances of a Test spot at number nine no harm with two individual tries, scampering in first from a maul and then a line-out, either side of half-time.
That put the Lions 30-3 ahead but the Baa-Baas did raise the biggest cheer of the night with a trademark running try, started by a sumptuous Joe Rokocoko sidestep and finished by Kahn Fotuali’i.
The Lions quickly responded with two more of their own, from Jonathan Davies and Alex Cuthbert, and stretched out the lead to 42-8.
Among a flurry of fresh legs appearing from the bench, Conor Murray replaced Phillips and almost with his first touch broke away to send Cuthbert in for his second score.
With five minutes remaining the Lions opted to take a line-out on the Barbarians line rather than kick a penalty and were rewarded when Wales flanker Dan Lydiate rounded off a training ground grab-and-drive.
Another Welshman, Alun Wyn Jones, also crossed in the last minute to complete the Lions rout.
The British and Irish Lions will depart Hong on Sunday and fly to Perth, where they will begin the Australian tour against the Western Force on Wednesday.
The cream of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales have not won a Test series since defeating South Africa in 1997 and on their last visit to Australia, they were edged out 2-1 in the dying seconds of the final Test.
They face the Wallabies in three Tests in Brisbane on June 22, Melbourne on June 29 and Sydney on July 6.
AFP
Topics:
rugby-union,
sport,
super-rugby,
hong-kong
Rugby Union: British and Irish Lions defeat Barbarians ahead of Australia tour
No comments:
Post a Comment