PERTH, Australia (AP) — Dan Sheehan made the perfect start on debut for the British and Irish Lions.
The Ireland hooker led the Lions for the first game of their Australian tour, scored in the second minute and steered the team to a commanding 54-7 win over the Perth-based Western Force in front of a crowd of 46,656 on Saturday.
“It’s all sinking in now. All week I’ve been focused on the game and making sure I don’t lose the plot in my head,” said Sheehan, who was captain while Maro Itoje was rested. “I’ve grown up wanting to play in this jersey, never mind captaining. There’s a lot of lads who’ve worn the jersey for the first time — we need to enjoy this."
After an arm-wrestle of a first half where the Lions led 21-7 despite having only 40% of possession and spending most of the time in their own half, the bigger, more polished British and Irish lineup opened up and put five unanswered tries on a tiring defense in the second.
Scrumhalf Tomos Williams scored a pair of tries before limping off with a left hamstring problem, fullback Elliot Daly scored two tries and No. 10 Finn Russell created two tries with his spur-of-the-moment judgement. He also kicked five goals.
Henry Pollock, the 20-year-old England No. 8, played an integral hand in two tries and also spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin in his eventful starting debut for the Lions.
“We have a few things to fix, mainly our discipline,” Lions head coach Andy Farrell said. “Once we gained a little bit of composure, I thought the second half was a little bit better.
“I was happy how we stayed in the fight," he added, "it was a tough old start to the game.”
Early exchanges
The Lions made changes after a 28-24 loss to Argentina in a warmup last week in Dublin, putting more emphasis on short, sharp passing.
The Lions had the ball for 11 phases until Russell kicked wide to the right touchline where Sheehan took the ball high and tapped infield for winger James Lowe, who flicked an inside pass back to him to score.
The Force equalized quickly with veteran Wallabies scrumhalf Nic White sniping over from the base of a ruck in the fifth.
The Force opted against taking penalty goals in order to keep up attacking intensity but the Lions held firm and relieved pressure with some crucial turnovers.
Flyhalf Russell set up the first try with his pinpoint kick wide and the third with a quick penalty tap and go in the 35th, scooting up to the five-yard line before popping up a ball off the ground for fullback Daly to score.
In between, Pollock was instrumental in the Lions' second try, bursting onto a sharp inside ball from openside flanker Josh van der Flier, stepping inside and out and going to ground before popping a ball up to scrumhalf Williams to score.
The tourists went into halftime with a man down after Pollock was yellow carded for a ruck infringement deep inside his own quarter. The Force crossed the line from the resulting penalty but were held up.
A key moment
Williams finished off an 80-meter counter-attacking try seven minutes into the second half. He limped off after scoring, and was replaced by Alex Mitchell.
Garry Ringrose scored soon after and Pollock, the youngest member of the Lions squad, was back in the attack quickly, chipping over the defense, regathering and almost scoring himself before the Lions shifted it quickly for lock and player-of-the-match Joe McCarthy to cross out wide in the 55th.
Daly scored in the 71st and Mitchell extended the final margin to 47 points when he scored after the siren, taking the last pass from Australian-born Ireland winger Mack Hansen.
“The score didn’t reflect that game at all,” Force scrumhalf White said. “Certainly, that first 50 minutes, we go stuck right into them. One turnover — they go the length and the game kind of blew out from there.”
The Lions are playing nine games in their first tour to Australia since 2013, including tests in Brisbane on July 19, in Melbourne on July 26 and in Sydney on Aug. 2. Their next match is against Queensland next Wednesday in Brisbane.
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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
The Associated Press
