Match Report

Sharks

The British and Irish Lions

Tries.		Tries. Byrne, Fitzgerald, Phillips, Mears, Heaslip
Conv.		Conv. O'Gara (3) Hook (1)
Pen. Kockott (1)		Pen. O'Gara (2)

The British and Irish Lionsvs Sharks10th June 2009JenkinsMearsA.JonesWyn JonesO'ConnellWallaceCroftHeaslipPhillipsO'GaraRobertsO'DriscollWilliamsFitzgeraldByrne

The British and Irish Lions

1. Jenkins
2. Mears
3. A.Jones
4. Wyn Jones
5. O'Connell (c)
6. Croft
7. Wallace
8. Heaslip

9. Phillips
10. O'Gara
11. Fitzgerald
12. Roberts
13. O'Driscoll 14. Williams
15. Byrne

Blair

Sharks

1. Carstens
2. Badenhorst
3. du Plessis
4. Sykes
5. Muller (c)
6. Botes
7. Deysel
8. Daniel

9. Kockott
10. Dumond
11. Vulindlu
12. Swanepoel
13. Strauss
14. Jordaan
15. Terblanche

Burden (Badenhorst, 53),
Cilliers (Carstens, 55),
van den Berg (Sykes, 56),
Rhodes (Botes, 70),
MacLeod (Kockott, 70),
Cronje (Jordaan, 62),
Mvovo

Match Report

The British & Irish Lions produced a crushing second-half display to claim victory over the Sharks by a 39-3 score line. England International Mears got the scoring underway with the Lions only score of the first-half before Phillips, Fitzgerald, Byrne and Jamie Heaslip were all second half try scorers. Roberts and Brian O'Driscoll combined well again in the centre, but they are still struggling to cope at the breakdown.

They went in to the game again experimenting with different Test Match combinations, such as the centre pairing Roberts and O'Driscoll and the back-row combination of Croft, Wallace and Heaslip. The South Africa squad looked on from the stands as the Lions outplayed fellow capped internationals Johann Muller, Jannie du Plessis and Deon Carstens.

Following a slow moving Lions maul, scrum-half Phillips produced his trademark dummy from the ensuing ruck before offloading to Heaslip. The Irish No.8 made his way to the line but was halted short leaving the alert Mears to plough over from close range.

The try was converted by O'Gara before the Sharks scored their only three points of the game through the boot of Rory Kockott's. A host of other chances fell to the tourists but as in games before they failed to turn their first half dominance into a more convincing half time lead.

The second half was to start a lot brighter than the first with towering scrum-half Phillips going over for a try within moments of the restart. With quick possession provided by a Heaslip crash-ball, Phillips threw the defence yet another dummy and set off towards the line, he rounded two defenders before diving over in the corner. O'Gara failed to convert and was further let off the hook when Sharks kicker Kockott missed a long-range penalty.

The Lions started to produce some quicker ball as the half wore on and this led to the Lions third try of the evening. Some quick and direct play from Croft, Byrne and O'Driscoll allowed young Irish winger Luke Fitzgerald to score his first try of the tour. The move began with Croft making a quick burst before Byrne's quick hands found O'Driscoll hitting the overlap. The centre produced some of the magic he is capable of, bamboozling opposition full-back Terblanche before popping the ball out to the unmarked Fitzgerald.

The superb Heaslip continued to find space when the Lions were in trouble, and his ball carrying skills led to the fourth try. O'Driscoll took advantage of the extra space created by Heaslip and expertly floated a pass out to full-back Byrne, with the Welshman showing the defence a clean pair of heels he outstripped the Sharks back line to score the Lions twenty first and his second try of the tour.

With time running out the Lions still had time for one more score, the Sharks were pinned on their own line and looked to run the ball out of defence, only for flanker David Wallace to turnover the ball. With Heaslip profiting from Wallace's grit and hard work, he capped an excellent performance with the final score of the game.

The Lions now travel to Cape Town to play Western Province and edging ever closer to the first Test against the Springboks on Saturday 20th June.