The British & Irish Lions romp to easy win

The British & Irish Lions turned in a far more convincing display in their second outing on this year’s Tour of South Africa, defeating the Xerox Golden Lions 74-10 in Johannesburg on Wednesday night.

The tourists, showing 12 changes to the side which stuttered to victory over a Royal XV on Saturday, ran in 10 tries in total, with man of the match Jamie Roberts and wingers Tommy Bowe and Ugo Monye all picking up braces.

Captain for the evening Brian O’Driscoll, Tom Croft, James Hook and Stephen Ferris all scored one apiece.

The Golden Lions managed just one touchdown of their own, through Shandre Frolick, on a night on which they were utterly outclassed.

That was hardly a surprise, of course, but the Super 14 outfit had been expected to provide the tourists with a far stiffer test, not least in light of their proud record of five previous wins over The British & Irish Lions.

However, unlike on Saturday in Rustenburg, an upset never looked likely.

The Lions started somewhat nervously, or perhaps more accurately Stephen Jones started somewhat nervously, the Wales fly-half twice knocking the ball on inside the first five minutes.

However, O’Driscoll, leading The Lions for the first time since being the victim of a now infamous spear tackle in New Zealand four years ago, rose to the occasion, creating the game’s opening try for Roberts with a beautiful step inside his man wide on the right flank.

The try lifted The Lions, and not least Jones, who began to show his full repertoire of kicking skills as he began to put The Golden Lions on the back foot.

A second try was inevitable and it arrived when Bowe split The Golden Lions defense with the most sumptuous of angled runs, leaving O’Driscoll with the simplest of finishes.

The Lions now looked utterly in command, with Gethin Jenkins, Lee Mears and Phil Vickery bossing their front row counterparts in the scrum and Alun Wyn-Jones and Tom Croft dominating in the air.

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Nster.com