British and Irish Lions produce classy showing to beat Western Force 54-7 after hosts put up first half fight

West Australian

8 hours ago

A classy British and Irish Lions display has helped them begin their first Australian tour in 12 years with a bang as they downed Western Force 54-7 at Optus Stadium.
But in front of a club record 46,656 fans, the Force hardly disgraced themselves as they fought tooth and nail and more than matched their star-studded opponents in an engrossing opening stanza.
In the most important exhibition match this version of the Force will ever play, they refused to let the occasion over-awe them in the first half as they met fire with fire.
But in a game of moments, it was the visitors who showed their class, taking a mile when granted an inch by the Force, who had more possession and territory by half-time, but found themselves 21-7 down at the break.
Pretty passing patterns mesmerised the Force, and then rapid-fire offloads opened up channels the Lions all too happily exploited, and three tries in the 15 minutes after half-time killed off the contest.
Young Lions whizz Henry Pollock justified the hype and the back-rower was at the centre of everything as he set-up two tries, was the centre of a full-team melee and was yellow carded on the stroke of half-time.
But while the likes of Pollock, fly-half Finn Russell, full-back Elliot Daly and Aussie Irishman Mack Hansen would have given Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt food for thought ahead of the looming three-Test series.
However, Schmidt would have also been encouraged by the performance of several players he released from his squad to link up with their Force teammates — none more so than Dylan Pietsch.
Pietsch played like a man on fire and had plenty of support from fellow winger Mac Grealy as the game went on, the pair driving through contact and gaining metres through sheer will power, while Wallabies squad members Tom Robertson and Nick Champion de Crespigny also impressed.
Once the Lions fans had spilled out of the watering holes and turned the Burswood peninsula red, it took less than two minutes for the tourists to stamp their credentials as rugby's answer to the Harlem Globetrotters.
Russell's precise cross-field kick picked out his captain Dan Sheehan, and the front-rower flipped the ball inside to James Lowe before accepting the off-load and scoring.
The Force had barely touched the ball by that point, but the outstanding Pietsch scooped the resultant kick-off out of the sky to rescue possession.
After 19 phases of Force pressure and close calls on the try-line to Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Darcy Swain and Ben Donaldson, Nic White scrambled over and Donaldson converted to level the scores.
The Lions infringed frequently early, and in a sign of the Force's intent, they opted for touch rather than the posts, although they could not turn their set-piece supremacy into points.
Pollock helped restore the Lions' advantage in the 17th minute when his sharp pass found Josh van der Flier and the English back-rower almost took the offload to the house with a barnstorming run, before his clever pass allowed Tomos Williams to score.
The Force continued to knock on the door, but the Lions refused to let them in, and they put some distance between the two sides when Russell's quick tap-and-go caught the hosts napping.
After Daly had plunged over, Nick Champion de Crespigny found himself at odds with Pollock and the pair tangled, triggering a full-team pushing and shoving match.
Lightning struck not once, not twice, but thrice after the break as the Lions ripped the life out of the game with violent ferocity.
A stinging counter-attack saw the Lions roar down the right edge and Williams acrobatically touched down for his second try of the night although immediately clutched at a hamstring afterwards.
Once more down the right wing did the Lions go in the 52nd minute and some lovely passing from Russell and Daly ended in a Garry Ringrose try.
Three minutes later, Pollock showed his class as the forward ran down his own chip and chase inside the 22 and Joe McCarthy lumbered over to make it 40-7.
As the Force tired late and their bench entered the game, the Lions played with their food and Daly ran in his second try of the night before Hansen set up Alex Mitchell for their eighth try as time expired.