British and Irish Lions improve to 5-0 on Australian tour with 48-0 win ahead of 1st test
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — The British and Irish Lions used their final tour match ahead of the first test against the Wallabies to overwhelm an Australia and New Zealand combined side 48-0 on Saturday.
The Lions led 17-0 at halftime and poured on the tries in the second half before 43,124 spectators, a record for rugby in the Australian rules-mad state of South Australia.
Scotland’s Duhan van der Merwe scored two of his three tries in an early 13-minute span as the Lions won for the fifth time in five matches on their Australian tour.
Controversial mid-tour replacement Owen Farrell came off the reserves bench in the 50th minute to a smattering of jeers. Farrell hasn’t played international rugby since the 2023 World Cup and played no rugby in nine weeks.
In the 36th, hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie was knocked out after attempting a tackle and was taken off the field by stretcher. But he was seen walking along the sidelines in the second half.
After the match, Lions coach Andy Farrell said Cowan-Dickie was “good and back to being his normal self. It was unfortunate. It was a concussion.”
Hours later, Jamie George — on tour with England in Argentina — was called up by the Lions as cover and was scheduled to fly out to Brisbane on Sunday.
Farrell also said outside center Garry Ringrose failed a concussion test following an injury late in the tour match against the ACT Brumbies on Wednesday “which is unfortunate for him … he’ll be back later in the series. Jamie (Osborne) coming in means we have cover.”
On Saturday’s eight-try win, Farrell said, “It was a good professional performance.
“When you play these types of games, all sorts of things can happen. We played a nice controlled game of rugby and never let them in the game. We stayed at it. It was never going to be perfect. We kept going as a team and that’s the main thing.”
The first combined Australia-New Zealand XV since the 1989 Lions tour included 17 internationals, including the entire starting side. But the AUNZ team played like it was patched together this week and struggled to handle the watertight Lions while suffering from indiscipline.
The first test against the Wallabies is next Saturday in Brisbane.
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