British & Irish Lions kick off Australia tour with emphatic win against Western Force

As expected, this was a much improved effort from the famous touring side after they lost against Argentina last week and several players caught the eye with outstanding individual performances.

Leading the way was fly-half Finn Russell, who showed his class with his mercurial playmaking skills, outstanding game management and solid goal-kicking during a 62-minute stint on the field.

Another player who caught the eye was young back-rower Henry Pollock as he delivered a brilliant attacking display while the likes of James Lowe and Joe McCarthy also produced excellent performances.

Russell finished with a 10-point haul courtesy of five conversions while the Lions' other points came via tries from Tomos Williams (2), Elliot Daly (2), Dan Sheehan, Garry Ringrose, McCarthy and Alex Mitchell.

For the Force, Nic White crossed the whitewash and Ben Donaldson slotted a conversion.

The visitors did not take long to take control of proceedings and it was a moment of brilliance from Russell which set up the first try as early as the second minute.

The Scotsman caught the home side by surprise as he delivered an accurate cross-field kick which was gathered by Sheehan on the edge of the Force's 22.

Sheehan threw an inside pass to Lowe, who did brilliantly to draw in two defenders as he was heading towards the touchline before offloading out of the back of his hand back to his captain, who crossed for the opening try.

The Force did not panic and struck back shortly afterwards when White barged over from close quarters after Dylan Pietsch and Donaldson combined brilliantly in the build-up.

After that score, the Force had most of the possession and territory but had no reward for their efforts and it was the Lions who scored next after excellent attacking play from Pollock.

He ran onto a pass from Williams before trading passes with Josh van der Flier and the young number eight did brilliantly to beat a couple of defenders before his progress was halted deep inside Force territory.

Despite that, Pollock kept his composure and offloaded to the on-rushing Williams, who had an easy run-in for his try.

That score seemed to boost the Lions' confidence and in the 36th minute Russell showed his class again when he caught the defence napping by tapping-and-going from a penalty inside the Force's half.

He was eventually brought to ground but freed his arms before getting a pass out to Daly, who rounded off despite the attentions of two defenders.

Just before half-time, the Lions were reduced to 14 men when Pollock was yellow carded for a professional foul inside his 22 but despite their numerical disadvantage the visitors had their tails up at the interval as they held a 21-7 lead.

Despite having a man in the sin bin, the visitors were fastest out of the blocks in the second half and in the 47th minute Williams crossed for his second try after trading passes with Lowe in brilliant fashion down the right-hand touchline in the build-up.

It was a bittersweet moment for the Welsh scrum-half as he pulled his hamstring while crossing the whitewash and was subsequently replaced by Mitchell.

That try gave the tourists some breathing space and they extended their lead shortly afterwards when Ringrose rounded off after running onto a pass from Hansen, before McCarthy crossed for his side's fifth try which gave them a 40-7 lead by the 54th minute.

With the match in the bag, Lions head coach Andy Farrell rang the changes but the visitors continued to up the ante on attack and in the 72nd minute Daly was rewarded with his second five-pointer which was an easy run-in after gathering a pass from Smith, who had replaced Russell 10 minutes earlier.

And just before the full-time hooter, Mitchell crossed for his five-pointer which also brought up a half century of points for the tourists.

READ MORE: Springboks provide clarity on Siya Kolisi's withdrawal ahead of Barbarians clash