PERTH, Australia: Brian O’Driscoll opened his fourth Lions tour by leading the combined British and Irish team and scoring two tries in a 69-17 win over a below-strength Western Force.
Force coach Michael Foley selected seven second-string players for Wednesday’s match in a bid to save some of his regular starters for a weekend Super Rugby clash against New South Wales Waratahs, sparking criticism in the British media and claims by former Lions coach Clive Woodward that the touring squad was being treated with contempt.
The Lions, coming off a 59-8 win over the Barbarians in Hong Kong on Saturday night, responded by scoring nine tries and conceding two in the first of their nine matches on Australian soil. Welsh fullback Leigh Halfpenny kicked nine conversions and two penalty goals in a 24-point haul for the Lions.
The match featured some heavy hits and there was even a biting allegation against the Lions, with Force and former Australia scrumhalf Brett Sheehan accusing Irish prop Cian Healy of biting his arm in the 17th minute. There was no conclusive video evidence of the incident and referee Glen Jackson took no action during the match.
But Healy didn’t finish the match. He was carried off the field after injuring his ankle in a setback for the Lions frontrow stocks.
Lions coach Warren Gatland told a post-match TV interview that despite concerns about the strength of the opposition lineup, “It was a good workout, especially for those just starting the tour.”
“The test for us tonight was about being ruthless and playing for the full 80 minutes,” he said. “It would have been easy to fall off the intensity and cruise home.”
The Lions have scored 128 points and conceded 25 in two matches, using a different starting XV each time.
The Lions are chasing their first series win since a 2-1 victory in South Africa in 1997, having lost to Australia in 2001, New Zealand in 2005 and the Springboks in 2009, and Gatland is confident they’re making steady progress.
“The challenge for us coaches is who the hell are we going to pick for that first test?” he said. “At the moment there is so much competition for places and that’s good for us.”
The Lions opened their 2001 tour with a 116-10 demolition of the Western Australia in Perth, but that was a local amateur representative team assembled well before Western Force was formed for the Super Rugby competition.
The Force offered a more challenging opener a dozen years later, and the local opposition should become tougher immediately again, with the Lions heading to Brisbane for a match against the Queensland Reds on Saturday night. Reds playmaker Quade Cooper will be pressing his claim for selection in the Wallabies squad for the three-test series starting June 22.
Cooper wasn’t selected last month in Australia’s initial 25-man squad, with coach Robbie Deans keeping the door slightly ajar by leaving six spots open in his 31-man final squad and saying he’d monitor the 38-test flyhalf’s form in Queensland’s match against the Lions.
It took the Lions a while to seize the momentum on Wednesday. They led by only seven points at the half-hour mark but started opening up the Force defense as halftime approached and took a 27-3 lead into the break, with Irish flyhalf Jonathan Sexton opening the scoring and O’Driscoll and flanker Tom Croft also crossing in the first 40 minutes.
O’Driscoll, who made his debut for Lions on the 2001 tour, Jamie Heaslip, Mako Vunipola, Tommy Bowe, Owen Farrell and Geoff Parling all scored second-half tries as the tourists ran away with the game.
The Lions conceded a try to No. 8 Richard Browne early in the second half and, despite having a one-man advantage for 10 minutes after Force center Ed Stubbs was yellow-carded for a professional foul in the 58th, let replacement Lachlan McCaffrey over in the 63rd minute.
O’Driscoll, who was standing in as captain for injured Welsh flanker Sam Warburton, said the win was a decent start to the Australian tour but thought the Lions had many elements to improve, particularly defensively.
“We have to continue building on this,” the 34-year-old Irish center said. “We set a good standard in Hong Kong on Saturday. Tonight there were great aspects to the game, but plenty to work on.”
