British & Irish Lions 39 The Sharks 3

An encouraging second-half showing saw The British & Irish Lions see off The Sharks 39-3 in the Kings Park Stadium in Durban on Wednesday night.

Facing a side shorn of eight of their nine members of the current Springbok squad, The Lions bossed the game in terms of possession and territory but a horribly disjointed attacking performance in the opening 40 minutes meant that their lead was just four points [7-3] at the break, a try from Lee Mears the only reward for their dominance.

However, Mike Phillips’ terrific solo try just after the restart acted as the catalyst for a much-improved second-half performance which featured three further touchdowns, through Luke Fitzgerald, Lee Byrne and Jamie Heaslip.

The Lions had arrived at The Shark Tank hoping for a morale-restoring performance on the back of Saturday’s fortuitous victory over The Cheetahs and with so many likely Test starters in the XV, they were confident of doing just that. However, the first half made for uncomfortable viewing.

They started promisingly, pinning their hosts back inside their own half for much of the opening quarter.

However, the ruthless efficiency which had been so conspicuous in the midweek side’s last outing, against The Golden Lions seven days previously, was nowhere to be seen.

Indeed, The Lions’ ineffectiveness was best summed up by a cross-field kick from Ronan O’Gara to the right wing, where….well, nobody was waiting.

The Munster fly-half, had a particularly poor opening 40 minutes, and also threw the ball straight into touch at one point, too.

However, it would be unfair to single out O’Gara as the reason for The Lions’ ineffectiveness as nearly every player on the pitch was playing well below their best.

The Lions repeatedly turned the ball over when in decent attacking positions, with the breakdown again proving a serious cause for concern. On the plus side, the scrum was reasonably strong and the line-out adequately solid.

And, in fairness, The Lions had already gone close several times before Mears eventually burrowed his way over midway through the first half, finishing off some good work from Phillips.

Indeed, Lee Byrne, Alun-Wyne Jones and Jamie Heaslip had all been held up agonizingly short of the whitewash in the early exchanges, while O’Driscoll looked certain to score when he intercepted a loose pass some 30 meters out from his own line. However, the Ireland centre’s pace over long distances is not quite what it was in his youth and he was superbly chased down by Lwazi Mvovo.

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Nster.com