Lions maintain perfect record following comfortable win

THE British and Irish Lions maintained their perfect record in South Africa with a comfortable 39-3 victory over a depleted Sharks side in Durban this Wednesday night.
The tourists ran in five tries without reply at the Absa Stadium, including a try for two Irish stars, Luke Fitzgerald and Jamie Heaslip.
Munster out-half Ronan O’Gara added three conversions and also slotting over two penalties. However, the performance may have left more questions than answers for head coach Ian McGeechan, particularly with the issues at the breakdown not yet resolved. Munster flanker David wallace boosted his chances of gaining inclusion in the Lions side to face the Springboks in the opening Test match on June 20 with a powerful display.
While out-half Ronan O’Gara produced a solid display and some excellent goal-kicking he would still appear to be behind Stephen Jones in the pecking order to win the battle to fill the number 10 jersey.
Lions and Munster skipper Paul O’Connell said the side had put in their best display of the tour in securing a 36-point victory. The tourists were only 7-3 ahead at the break but they produced a stirring second-half display to secure a comfortable victory.
“I think a lot of things came together,” lock Paul O’Connell said. We looked a lot more like a team than we have done in the last few weeks.
“One of the biggest things is the defence, we’ve got four defensive systems trying to come together and play under one system and it came together well.
“They had a lot of the ball there at the end and everyone looked very comfortable defending together.”
The Lions have struggled at the breakdown so far in South Africa but the Munster lock believes his side are getting to grips with the contact area.
“The breakdown is the most important part of the game right now, no doubt about it, wherever you play,” he added.
“I thought we made a big improvement and I think we’ll continue to improve.”
O’Connell was also satisfied with his side’s patience after they ended up with only seven points despite dominating the first half.
We would have liked to have got more points from the pressure and the possession we had in the first half, but were very patient and the points began to rack up,” he added.
“Pressure is very hard to defend against constantly and I think it paid off - the longer we stuck at it, the points did come. If we didn’t trust each other, it would have been very easy for the team to get frustrated out there.”
Head coach Ian McGeechan was also a happy man, saying that his side put in a “very strong performance”.
“I’m very pleased,” he said. “Very strong discipline, patience and I am very pleased that it was right through the 80 minutes.
“I thought we didn’t panic, we were just building a performance tonight and reaped the benefits in the second half. Our defence was outstanding, absolutely superb.”
Forwards coach Warren Gatland insists that the Lions can take a lot of positives from how they performed.
“We were very happy at half-time with the possession we’d had against one of the top provincial sides in South Africa,” he said.
“Any group of players can last for 40 minutes and the Sharks gave it everything in those first 40 minutes. We just said to stay patient and stick to the game plan and the pressure will tell.”

British & Irish Lions
Lee Byrne (Wales); Shane Williams (Wales), Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland), Jamie Roberts (Wales), Luke Fitzgerald (Ireland); Ronan O’Gara (Ireland), Mike Phillips (Wales); Gethin Jenkins (Wales), Lee Mears (England), Adam Jones (Wales); Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), Paul O’Connell (Ireland) (capt); Tom Croft (England), David Wallace (Ireland), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland). Replacements: Simon Shaw (England) for O’Connell, Riki Flutey (England) for Roberts (both 64 mins), Matthew Rees (Wales) for Mears, Phil Vickery (England) for Adam Jones (both 69 mins), Mike Blair (Scotland) for Phillips (71 mins), James Hook (Wales) for O’Gara (79 mins).

Colm Kinsella