Owen Farrell makes first appearance on Lions tour as Huw Jones lights up victory

By Duncan Bech, PA Rugby Union Correspondent, Adelaide

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.

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 attack.

And for the first time on tour, they seized control from the kick-off rather falling behind early – to the point they were out of sight by the end of the opening quarter after plundering three slick tries.

Two of them easy finishes for Van der Merwe, who profited from the ambition and quick thinking of his team-mates.

The seventh-minute opener came after a quickly-taken line-out by Hugo Keenan before scrum-half Ben White darted through where the ruck defence should have been to touch down on his debut for the tourists.

White’s try came after AUNZ had been carved open through purposeful running and sharp handling with Mack Hansen and Jones particularly dangerous.

Henry Pollock was held up over the line as the Lions’ domination continued and they detonated an overworked home defence again in the 21st minute with crisp passing giving Van der Merwe his second.

When the time came for the Lions to show their mettle in their own 22, they stepped up admirably, although Cowan-Dickie’s head injury came during one of the defensive set.

Sione Tuipulotu was the next to score as his direct line off a short-range penalty met with no resistance, with the impressive Ben Earl delivering the final pass.

The Scottish theme to the try-scoring continued when Scott Cummings took three tacklers with him as he rampaged over and then Van der Merwe completed his hat-trick after Farrell had acted as first receiver.

Ronan Kelleher and Pollock went over to bring an end to Scotland’s grip on the scoreboard and for the time since 2013, the Lions had nilled their opponents.