Ruthless Lions run in eight tries to down Force 54 7 in Perth

PERTH - The British amp; Irish Lions gave the Western Force a lesson in ruthless finishing as they kicked off their Australia tour with an ultimately comfortable 54-7 victory in front of a big crowd at Perth Stadium on Saturday.

Tomos Williams and Elliot Daly both crossed twice with skipper Dan Sheehan, Garry Ringrose, Joe McCarthy and Alex Mitchell also scoring as a much-changed Lions team bounced back after their 28-24 loss to Argentina in Dublin last week.

Henry Pollocks first start in a Lions shirt did not disappoint with a line break to set up one try and a chip-and-chase earning the field position for another, as well as a yellow card late in the first half.

Flyhalf Finn Russell, who kicked five of six conversions before being replaced, gave a masterclass in playmaking to reinforce his position as favourite to lead the Lions backline in the test series against Australia in late July and August.

I think its an improvement, especially on the scoreline side and how we sort of closed down that game towards the end, said hooker Sheehan.

But still plenty of things to work on, the discipline was nowhere near good enough and there was too much access for Western Force tonight.

The Force did enough to assuage the fears of Lions management that the tour matches would not be competitive and a solitary try from veteran Wallabies scrumhalf Nic White hardly did justice to their contribution to the contest.

Disappointed, I dont think that scoreline reflected certainly the first 50 minutes, said White. We probably left a couple of opportunities out there, but we got stuck right into them and it had a real test match intensity.

Sheehan, making his Lions debut, gave the tourists the perfect start with a try inside two minutes,