By Aidan Leo
After missing the tour opener against Argentina, the Irish contingent made an immediate impact, underlining their value as they spearheaded the British and Irish Lions’ crushing 54-7 triumph over the Western Force at Optus Stadium in Perth.
Led by captain Dan Sheehan, the Irish players wasted no time making their mark, giving head coach Andy Farrell plenty of healthy selection headaches to consider for the Tests against Australia.
With the first Test match against the Wallabies just a few weeks away on July 19 in Brisbane, Farrell will likely lean heavily on his Irish cohort to lead his side to a possible 3-0 series win.
Key moments
Superstar Sheehan opened the Lions’ account just two minutes in after dazzling link-up play with fellow countryman James Lowe on the touchline.
The Force hit back instantaneously through captain Nic White, who registered his side’s only try of the encounter, with full-back Ben Donaldson converting.
To close off the first half, tries from scrum-half Tomos Williams and full-back Elliot Daly took the score to 21-7 at the interval.
The Lions were relatively hit-and-miss in the first half, but came back out after the break to dispatch the Force with ease.
The duo of Williams and Daly added to their try-scoring tally with one each in the second half, two apiece for the game.
Tries from Garry Ringrose, Joe McCarthy and Alex Mitchell added further woes to an already dejected Force team.
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Williams goes down
The Lions’ dominant display against the Force was marred by unfortunate injury news.
After an admirable performance, Williams fell prey to a hamstring injury early in the second half that saw his Lions tour come to an unfortunate, premature end.
The Lions have called up Scottish scrum-half Ben White to replace him, who is expected to be third choice behind Mitchell and Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park for the upcoming Wallabies Tests.
On Williams’ injury, Farrell said: “Unfortunately, Tomos has been ruled out of the rest of the tour with a hamstring injury. Ben White will join us from the Scotland squad and will fly over from New Zealand.”
“It’s shocking news for us all. We’re not just going to miss an outstanding player – he played unbelievably well and it was some try that he was actually injured by.
“We’re also going to miss the bloke. We have only been together for a few weeks now but his character is everything you want to have in your group on a Lions tour.
“He’s very popular and that makes it a little bit tougher,” Farrell continued.
Post-match reflections
Farrell was pleased with the calmness and patience his side showed, having come out with a point to prove in the second half.
“Our discipline in the first half was not good, when we gained our composure in the second half we were able to be nice and calm and our defence improved out of sight,” Farrell told Sky Sports.
“We were able to force errors, and score tries off the back of it. I’m glad we composed ourselves at half-time and kept our composure through the second half. We’re up and running, and we’ll keep pushing each other forward.”
McCarthy teased that this is just the beginning for the Lions.
After his Man of the Match performance, the star Irish lock said to Sky Sports: “It was tough. It’s probably a taste of what’s to come: the Australians like to play ball and play quick.
“We came out of the blocks firing, and then they came back hard, and our own bit of indiscipline let them back into it. There’s plenty to review and we’ll be a lot better for it.
“We want to be a ruthless side and show that every week. There’s plenty to improve on. I think I blew the cobwebs off so I should be flying for the rest of the tour now.”
Farrell and his charges are preparing for a tricky fixture against the Queensland Reds on July 2.
The Lions will be aiming for continuity and accuracy to dismantle all comers leading up to the highly anticipated Wallabies Tests.
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