Owen Farrell made his first appearance on the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia but it was the player he replaced, Huw Jones who lit up a 48-0 victory over an AUNZ Invitational XV.
The Lions delivered their most emphatic win a week out from the first Test against the Wallabies in an eight-try demolition at Adelaide Oval that was marred only by a head injury to Luke Cowan-Dickie.
Cowan-Dickie was forced off after appearing to be knocked out when making a tackle and while he was seen walking around the field at half-time, he will face a spell on the sidelines that may force the Lions to call up additional cover at hooker.
5️⃣ from 5️⃣ in Australia ✅#Lions2025 pic.twitter.com/QbaDM302SH
— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) July 12, 2025
And given that Garry Ringrose may miss the series opener because of suspected concussion, Jones timed his swashbuckling reminder of his threat from outside centre to perfection.
The Scotland star was not among the try-scorers – Duhan van der Merwe took star billing on that front with a hat-trick – but he repeatedly carved AUNZ open to show he is ready to start in Brisbane next Saturday.
Farrell came on at inside centre to the now customary mixture of boos and cheers in the 48th minute and he made a telling contribution as second receiver outside Marcus Smith, who had replaced Fin Smith.
It was surprisingly easy pickings against a stacked AUNZ line-up, the nations’ first composite side for 36 years that contained 17 Wallabies and All Blacks but desperately lacked cohesion, having only been thrown together this week.
Pleasingly for the Lions, several of the shortcomings evident throughout the tour were much improved, including their breakdown work, restarts and decision making in
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