Western Force 7-54 British and Irish Lions: Second-half surge seals eight-try victory in Perth tour game
Tomos Williams and Elliot Daly doubles plus tries from Dan Sheehan, Garry Ringrose, Joe McCarthy and Alex Mitchell inspire eight-try Lions victory over Western Force; watch every game of 2025 Lions tour - including all three Tests against the Wallabies - live on Sky Sports
Last Updated: 28/06/25 7:06pm
The British and Irish Lions produced a devastating second-half surge to defeat Western Force 54-7, but the win in Perth was marred by the loss of scrum-half Tomos Williams to a hamstring injury.
The Lions led 21-7 at the break at Optus Stadium thanks to tries from Dan Sheehan, Williams and Elliot Daly but were hindered by ill-discipline, with Henry Pollock sin-binned after a succession of penalties.
But the Lions drew an emphatic line under their disjointed first-half display, pulling away from the Force with five unanswered tries after the break in a performance that laid foundations for the future and saw the weakest of Australia's Super Rugby franchises expose areas of improvement.
Western Force 7-54 British and Irish Lions - Score summary
Western Force: Tries: White. Conversions: Donaldson.
Lions: Tries: Williams (2), Daly (2), Sheehan, Ringrose, McCarthy, Mitchell. Conversions: Russell (5), M. Smith (2)
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Scrum-half Williams, who injured his hamstring in the process of scoring his second try, sparked the second-half flurry that saw Daly cross for his second and Garry Ringrose, Joe McCarthy and Alex Mitchell all touch down to secure a first tour victory on Australian soil for Andy Farrell's squad.
With victory tainted by the injury to Williams, the Lions face a nervous wait to learn the extent of the damage sustained to his hamstring, with Farrell telling Sky Sports: "We'll assess Tomos Williams in the morning, it's a hamstring, you don't know what these things are like."
Lions claim first win in Australia
It took just two minutes for the Lions to show their quality, Sheehan knocking a cross-field kick into the path of wing James Lowe, who sent his Ireland team-mate in for the opening try on his debut as Lions captain with an outrageous offload out of the back of his hand.
Captain Nic White burrowed his way over the try line as Western Force responded immediately to the Lions' early score, little did they know at the time that that would be their last scoring action.
After four penalties in the opening 15 minutes, a superb linebreak and offload off the deck from Pollock sent Wales scrum-half Williams over for a lead-restoring score.
Pollock was front and centre once more after Daly applied the finishing touch to a Finn Russell quick-tap penalty, sparking a melee between both sets of players for his exuberant celebrations.
The Northampton forward escaped punishment on that occasion but he was sent to the sin-bin on the stroke of half-time after failing to release in the tackle, though it did not cost the Lions, who stood firm to reach the interval two scores ahead.
Pollock had yet to rejoin play when the Lions struck again early in the second half with wings Mack Hansen and Lowe involved in a counter-attack that ended with Williams diving over in the corner for his fateful finish.
Just 10 minutes after the interval and the Force defence was already tiring, allowing the tourists to force an easy opening with Hansen supplying Ringrose with the scoring pass.
Back on the field, Pollock pounced on a loose ball to launch a counter that ended with McCarthy crossing and the gaps continued to appear with Marcus Smith, on for Russell at fly-half, sending Daly over before Mitchell landed the final blow.
Farrell hails Lions for 'keeping composure'
Lions head coach Andy Farrell to Sky Sports: "Our discipline in the first half was not good, when we gained our composure in the second half we were able to be nice and calm and our defence improved out of sight.
"We were able to force errors, and score tries off the back of it. I'm glad we composed ourselves at half-time and kept our composure through the second half. We're up and running, and we'll keep pushing each other forward."
'A taste of what's to come'
Player of the Match - Joe McCarthy - speaking to Sky Sports: "It was tough. It's probably a taste of what's to come: the Australians like to play ball and play quick.
"We came out of the blocks firing, and then they came back hard, and our own bit of indiscipline let them back into it. There's plenty to review and we'll be a lot better for it.
"We want to be a ruthless side and show that every week. There's plenty to improve on. I think I blew the cobwebs off so I should be flying for the rest of the tour now."
What's next for the Lions?
Every match of the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia - including all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches - will be shown exclusively live on Sky Sports.
The Lions' tour of Australia continues with their second warm-up game against Queensland Reds in Brisbane (July 2), the Waratahs in Sydney (July 5), the Brumbies in Canberra (July 9), an Invitational Australia & New Zealand side in Adelaide (July 12) and the Rebels in Melbourne (July 22).
That game will take place after the opening Test in Brisbane on July 19, with the second Test at the MCG in Melbourne on July 26 and the final Test in the Accor Stadium in Sydney on August 2. Stream the British and Irish Lions with no contract
