Lions hold firm after scare from First Nations-Pasifika XV

MELBOURNE :The British & Irish Lions were rocked by the underdog spirit of the First Nations & Pasifika XV (FNP) but held on grimly to claim an unconvincing 24-19 win on Tuesday.

Centre Jamie Osborne scored a try in each half, and Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe also crossed for the Lions who remain unbeaten on their Australian tour despite producing a largely ragged display at Melbourne's Docklands Stadium.

It was full credit to the FNP team, who gave Joe Schmidt's Wallabies a lesson in ferocity at the breakdown and scored tries from Tristan Reilly, Seru Uru and Rob Leota, the last allowing them to creep within five points with less than 10 minutes left.

Although the Lions notched their seventh win in succession in Australia, coach Andy Farrell may have more headaches than just selection for Saturday's second test against the Wallabies at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where they will bid to seal the series.

The claims of his son Owen Farrell for a test jersey were unharmed, though, the former England captain leading from the front as skipper on Tuesday.

"Probably wasn't our best performance, but massive, massive credit's got to go to the First Nations and Pasifika boys, thought they came after us tonight," said Owen Farrell.

"They got off the line really well, they caused us some trouble ... I'm thankful we got the job done in the end."

Farrell was right in the thick of it, charging in to shove Reilly after the hosts' winger hammered into Graham with a try-saving tackle that earned him a yellow card in the fifth minute.

Moments later, Farrell set up the Lions' first try with a neat chip over the First Nations' line that Osborne collected and planted down.

GRAHAM TRY

Farrell had a hand in the second for Scottish winger