Ruthless Lions run in eight tries to down Force 54-7 in Perth

PERTH : The British & Irish Lions gave the Western Force a lesson in ruthless finishing as they kicked off their Australia tour with an ultimately comfortable 54-7 victory in front of a big crowd at Perth Stadium on Saturday.

Tomos Williams and Elliot Daly both crossed twice with skipper Dan Sheehan, Garry Ringrose, Joe McCarthy and Alex Mitchell also scoring as a much-changed Lions team bounced back after their 28-24 loss to Argentina in Dublin last week.

Henry Pollock's first start in a Lions shirt did not disappoint with a line break to set up one try and a chip-and-chase earning the field position for another, as well as a yellow card late in the first half.

Flyhalf Finn Russell, who kicked five of six conversions before being replaced, gave a masterclass in playmaking to reinforce his position as favourite to lead the Lions backline in the test series against Australia in late July and August.

The Force did enough to assuage the fears of Lions management that the tour matches would not be competitive and a solitary try from veteran Wallabies scrumhalf Nic White hardly did justice to their contribution to the contest.

Hooker Sheehan, making his Lions debut, gave the tourists the perfect start with a try inside two minutes, batting Russell's crosskick to James Lowe then taking a return pass to touch down.

The Force intercepted the restart and came straight back at them, however, and White went over in the fifth minute during a period of sustained pressure that continued for another 10 minutes.

Some of the Lions defending attracted the ire of Ben O'Keeffe, who will referee the first Wallabies test, but they held out through four penalties before turning the ball over and scoring a second try.

Good support from Pollock saw