Lions sink depleted Sharks

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.

The tourists ran in five tries without reply at the Absa Stadium, Ronan O'Gara adding three conversions and also slotting over two penalties.

Having put their hosts under heavy pressure from the outset, it wasn't until Lee Mears dived over in the 23rd minute that the deadlock was broken.

But the second half saw the Lions show their teeth in attack, Mike Phillips, Luke Fitzgerald and Lee Byrne all crossing on the left hand side.

Biggest win

Jamie Heaslip rounded out the scoring in injury time, the flanker's late burst over the line clinching the Lions' biggest ever win over the Sharks franchise.

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.

For the second successive game the Lions also had a man sent to the sin-bin, substitute Phil Vickery yellow-carded in the closing stages.

The penalty count will also be a concern, though with so many of their Springboks missing, the Sharks - who also finished the match down to 14 with Keegan Daniel sin-binned for a trip on Shane Williams - rarely threatened.

The South Africa squad, watching on from the stands, would not have been too worried by what they saw, particularly in a patchy first half.

The Lions were camped out in Shark territory but too often came up short in their efforts to score, slow ball not helping their cause in attack.

Eventually their efforts finally paid off when hooker Mears broke off the back of a ruck to touch down, O'Gara adding the simple conversion.

A penalty from scrum-half Rory Kockott did get the hosts up and running, though that proved to be the only time they troubled the scorers. It wasn't until the last few minutes that they even appeared close to getting a try themselves.

Clinical touch

Having led just 7-3 after a frustrating first 40 minutes, the Lions finally showed a clinical touch after the break to pile on the points.

The impressive Phillips benefited from quick ball from the forwards to race into space on the left, going alone to reach the line rather than use any of the supporting runners outside of him.

O'Gara missed the conversion but did slot over two penalties to open up a comfortable cushion that laid the platform for a more open style of play.

Brian O'Driscoll's burst down the left set up a simple finish for Fitzgerald in the corner on the hour mark, and it wasn't long until the Lions were again enjoying success out wide.

Byrne produced a brilliant combination of pace and power to reach the line, firstly fending off Jacques Botes before showing a superb turn of pace to run clear. Left with Monty Dumond to beat, the Wales full-back decided on strength over subtlety, barging straight over the top of the number 10.

Heaslip's late effort added some extra gloss to the final score but McGeechan and his squad will know there's still plenty more work to do with the first Test of the series fast approaching.