HONG KONG: Mike Phillips and Alex Cuthbert scored two tries apiece as the British and Irish Lions kicked off their 125th anniversary tour with a comfortable 59-8 victory over the Barbarians in oppressive humidity in Hong Kong yesterday.
Tries from skipper Paul O’Connell and Phillips helped the Lions to a 23-3 halftime lead and the floodgates opened after the break with Phillips adding a second, Cuthbert grabbing his brace and fellow Welshmen Jonathan Davies, Dan Lydiate and Alun Wyn-Jones also crossing.
“The players were saying the ball was like a bar of soap, it was difficult to hold on to,” Lions coach Warren Gatland told Sky Sports. “But they kept their composure and I’m absolutely delighted with the start.”
The Lions will face much tougher opposition in their nine matches in Australia, not least in three tests against the Wallabies, but former All Black Joe Rokocoko showed a few flashes of class and set up a try for Samoan Kahn Fotuali’i.
“We’re delighted to get the win and win really well,” Irishman O’Connell, captaining the side in place of the injured tour skipper Sam Warburton, said in a touchline interview. “We wore them down in the first half and the tries came fairly easily in the second half.”
The Lions enjoyed the sort of dominance in the scrum that they will hope to have in Australia and that made it a tough night for the Sergio Parisse-led Barbarians, who showed more resolve than they had in last Sunday’s 40-12 defeat by England.
Owen Farrell pressed his claim for the flyhalf spot in the Lions test team with 15 points from an assured display of kicking until his rival Jonny Sexton took over just before the hour mark, the Irishman finding the mark with two of five conversions.
Phillips accepted the Man of the Match award after a fine 50-minute display in front of the 28,643 crowd roasting in the 29 degrees Celsius (84 degrees Fahrenheit) heat and 72 percent humidity.
A surging break from the tall Welsh scrumhalf led to the first try of the tour after 28 minutes when O’Connell picked up the ball from a ruck and launched himself over the line from close range.
Four minutes later and Phillips dummied his way past Parisse on the 22 and raced to the line, where he twisted in the tackle of Rokocoko to force the ball down.
Farrell converted his third penalty from long range to send the tourists into the break with a comfortable lead and Phillips extended it three minutes after halftime after breaking through the defensive line with another dummy.
Replacement Barbarians scrumhalf Fotuali’i hit back after 56 minutes when he latched on to Rokocoko’s pass to race to the line but Lion Jamie Roberts pounced on a defensive mistake four minutes later and his center partner Davis restored the cushion.
More turnover ball two minutes later allowed Cuthbert to race up the right touchline for his first try and eight minutes later he grabbed his second in the same spot after a fine break from Phillips’s replacement Conor Murray.
Flanker Lydiate and lock Wyn-Jones added the final two tries in the last five minutes to send the tourists off to Australia in good spirits as they seek to record a first tour triumph since South Africa in 1997.
“It was tough conditions,” said Phillips. “I thought all in all it was a great way to start the tour and we’ve just got to keep it going now.”
