Ireland players enjoy starring roles as British and Irish Lions thump Western Force

SEVERAL Ireland stars impressed as the British and Irish Lions claimed their first victory on Australian soil by overwhelming Western Force 54-7 at the Optus Stadium in front of 46,656, a record crowd for a rugby union game in Perth on Saturday.

Andy Farrell’s British and Irish Lions bounced back from their 28-24 defeat by Argentina in Dublin eight days ago with an eight-try demolition of the weakest of Australia’s Super Rugby franchises while exposing areas of concern.

The lack of cohesion in defence continued and the scrum took a step backwards after excelling against the Pumas as part of a shaky overall set-piece performance, but their passes stuck in attack and they created some classy tries.

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Henry Pollock, Man of the Match Joe McCarthy, of Ireland, and international team mate James Lowe all advanced their claims to Test selection against the Wallabies, while fly-half Finn Russell produced an inventive first outing on tour.

Russell’s fingerprints were over Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan’s fourth-minute try with his pinpoint kick to Lowe making the score possible, but the Force hit back with their first attack of the match when Nic White wriggled over.

All the early pressure was coming from the hosts but they were turned over three times when in commanding positions, one of them occurring when man-of-the-match McCarthy pinched line-out ball.

The Force were showing plenty of endeavour but the Lions’ extra class was evident in the 16th minute when Pollock combined with Josh van der Flier, raced clear and then passed out of the tackle for Williams to score.

And their accuracy was on display again in the 36th minute when Russell ran a quickly taken free-kick with Pollock and Elliot Daly in support and when he was stopped just short of the line, Daly was able to touch down.

Pollock provocatively celebrated the try close to Force openside Nick Champion de Crespigny, igniting a flashpoint that drew in a large number of players.

The England back row was then sin-binned, although his yellow card was the result of Ben O’Keeffe running out of patience with the number of Lions infringements.

Pollock had yet to rejoin play when the Lions struck again early in the second half with Ireland wings Mack Hansen and Lowe involved in a counter attack that ended with Williams diving over in the corner for his fateful finish.

Just 10 minutes after the interval and the Force defence was already tiring, allowing the tourists to force an easy open with Hansen supplying Ireland centre Garry Ringrose with the scoring pass.

Back on the field, Pollock pounced on a loose ball to launch a counter that ended with McCarthy crossing and the gaps continued to appear with Marcus Smith, on for Russell at fly-half, sending Daly over before Alex Mitchell landed the final blow.

On a down side, scrum-half Tomas Williams was among the Lions’ star performers but his match was over when he injured his left hamstring in the 47th minute.

The Wales half-back limped from the pitch to leave the Lions sweating on his fitness given Jamison Gibson-Park has yet to play on tour because of a glute problem, potentially leaving Alex Mitchell as the only available option in the position.

WESTERN FORCE: Ben Donaldson; Mac Grealy, Matt Proctor, Hamish Stewart, Dylan Pietsch; Alex Harford, Nic White (capt); Tom Robertson, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Ollie Hoskins, Sam Carter, Darcy Swain, Will Harris, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Vaiolini Ekuasi. Replacements used:Reed Prinsep for Harris (9-23 mins), Lopeti Faifua for Carter (49 mins), Max Burey for Harford, Prinsep for Ekuasi (both 52 mins), Marley Pearce for T Robertson, Tom Horton for Paenga-Amosa (both 55 mins), Henry Robertson for White (58 mins), Bayley Kuenzle for Pietsch (61 mins), Tiaan Tauakipulu for Hoskins (64 mins).

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: Elliot Daly (Saracens/England); Mack Hansen (Connacht Rugby/Ireland), Garry Ringrose (Leinster Rugby/Ireland), Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland), James Lowe (Leinster Rugby/Ireland); Finn Russell (Bath Rugby/Scotland), Tomos Williams (Gloucester Rugby/Wales); Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby/Scotland), Dan Sheehan (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) (capt), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster Rugby/Ireland), Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland), Joe McCarthy (Leinster Rugby/Ireland), Tadhg Beirne (Munster Rugby/Ireland), Josh van der Flier (Leinster Rugby/Ireland), Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints/England). Replacements used: Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints/England) for Williams (47 mins), Andrew Porter (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) for Schoeman, Jack Conan (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) for Beirne, Will Stuart (Bath Rugby/England) for Furlong, Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers/England) for Cummings (all 48 mins), Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland) for Ringrose (55 mins), Marcus Smith (Harlequins/England) for Russell (61 mins), Rónan Kelleher (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) for Sheehan (65 mins).

REFEREE: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR)