Mauling restores Lions’ pride

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL said earlier in the week that winning becomes a habit.

Last night in Johannesburg, the Irish and Leinster centre added another liberal sprinkling of the gold dust that has been the hallmark of his year so far.

For those who were worried about him carrying an injury, and to those who dared to think he was past his best, he proved at Ellis Park that he still has enough about him to possibly inspire the Class of 2009 to heights not recently reached by the Lions. As well as scoring one try early in the first-half, he made another for his impressive centre partner Jamie Roberts and looked like a man who simply can’t get enough of the game at the moment.

But he was eager to play down the significance of this rout.

“We are far from the finished article,” said O’Driscoll. “People expect us to click together because we are a good group of individuals, but it is going to take time.

“To score 70 points against a Super 14 team means somebody has to take some sort of notice of us. But we will keep working away and try to become even more cohesive.

“We will get better as a unit and we managed to hold onto the ball tonight, go through the phases a bit better and managed to score some tries. We also didn’t turn over as much ball as he did in the first game.

“I think the bigger pitch helped us. The players felt a bit cramped in the opening game and more passes stuck and we were able to finish them off.

“I’m very proud of leading the Lions and, if there is a job to be done as captain I will step up to the plate. But there are so many good leaders in this group who are at the top of their game you don’t have to say much to them.”

Indeed his lead was enthusiastically followed by his team mates and by the end of the night the 22,218 crowd had caught a glimpse of the real potential of this Lions squad.

Ten tries flowed as they eclipsed the record of the 1955 tourists against the old Transvaal side of seven tries and 36 points.

It was the biggest Lions win on South African soil since the 97 they put past the unfortunate South West Districts in 1974 and proved that the shaky start against the Royal XV last weekend was just that: a shaky start.

Having fully acclimatised to the altitude they coughed up two unforced errors in the opening minute, when Stephen Jones dropped a ball in his 22 and then Lee Mears missed his target at the first line-out, but after that it was more or less perfect for the rest of the half.

They were scoring at more than a point a minute in the opening half-an-hour and completely demoralised the home side.

Two interception tries in the second half, plus a 60 metre dash by Stephen Ferris, rubbed salt into the wounds and left the Lions on a high.

O’Driscoll eventually left the match on the hour mark after taking a heavy knock and when two-try Ugo Monye followed him, the tourists were forced to play the final 10 minutes with 14 men.

It was easy to spot the difference that a few days extra training has made to the Lions and they hammered a team that was a considerable step up in playing talent from the Royal XV. Saturday’s clash with the Free State Cheetahs is likely to be more demanding again, but there is now real momentum in the tour.

The pack were dominant at the set-pieces, Jamie Heaslip was immense around the fringes and when Ferris took over from David Wallace in the second half he made his presence felt, not least with his last gasp try.

But it was the back division that shone brightest. There were three tries from the centres, four from the wings and an interception from the replacement James Hook.

As McGeechan said after the game, he would never have dared to write down a score with such a high margin of victory before the game.

But now he knows he has the forward power and the back line fire power to mould a competitive team.

Just how competitive, and whether or not it is capable of beating the world champions in their own back yard, will be revealed over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, his players can bask in the glory of scoring five tries in each half and laying down a marker. The tour has finally taken off.

Scorers for Golden Lions: Try, S Frolick; Con, A Pretorius; Pen, A Pretorius.

Scorers for British & Irish Lions: Tries, B O’Driscoll, U Monye (2), T Bowe (2), S Ferris, J Roberts (2), T Croft, J Hook; Cons, S Jones (6), J Hook (3); Pens, S Jones (2)

GOLDEN LIONS: L Ludik (S Frolick 5); M Killian, J Boshoff (W Venter 60), D la Grange, D Noble; A Pretorius, J Vermaak (C Jonck 66); L Sephaka, W Wepener (E Reynecke 57), G Muller; B Mockford (T Clever 38), W Stoltz (E Joubert 5-10, 57); C Grobbelaar, F van der Merwe, W Alberts.

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: R Kearney; T Bowe, B O’Driscoll (S Williams 60, capt), J Roberts (J Hook 53), U Monye; S Jones (H Ellis 62), M Phillips; G Jenkins, L Mears (R Ford 66), P Vickery (E Murray 66); N Hines, A Jones; T Croft (A Powell 65), D Wallace (S Ferris 48), J Heaslip.

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa).