Lions won’t be ‘under-cooked’ for first test, assures O’Brien

Despite the emphatic win over the Combined Country, Sean O’Brien believes there is no fear of the British & Irish Lions being unprepared for the intensity of a Test series against Australia.

The Lions stretched their unbeaten record to four from four starts when they brushed aside a team of part-timers and Super Rugby fringe players from the rural areas of Queensland and New South Wales in Newcastle yesterday.

Warren Gatland’s latest selection ran in 10 tries in a 64-0 win at Hunter Stadium, the third time in four games so far in which they have topped 50 points. Only the Queensland Reds, last Saturday in Brisbane, gave the Lions the sort of exacting test the tourists could do with. But with just 10 days to go before the first Test, O’Brien, one of nine different try scorers yesterday, believes there has been plenty of intensity on the training ground and there is more to come against the New South Wales Waratahs on Saturday.