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Ben Earls praised Owen Farrell after the former England captain made his first appearance on the British and Irish Lions 2025 tour to Australia.
The 33-year-old Farrell, who replaced the injured Elliot Daly, came on for Huw Jones after 50 minutes and lined up at inside centre between flyhalf Marcus Smith and Sione Tuipulotu.
Farrell enjoyed a lively performance, and he set up a try for Henry Pollock with a kick through with five minutes to go.
BACK TO THE OLD ROUTINE
“It was like being back at home when he was shouting in my ear next to me,” Earls told Sky Sports. “It is amazing to have him back both at club and international level. It’s so exciting to see what he’s going to do for this group.”
The Lions finished the match at Adelaide Oval with a 48-0 victory over the Australia New Zealand Invitational XV, which contained 17 internationals.
Wing Duhan van der Merwe scored a hattrick, and there were scores from Pollock, Ben White, Tuipulotu, Ronan Kelleher, and Scott Cummings.
“It wasn’t easy but the scoreline probably reflects how well we played,” Earls said. “We’re really pleased with what we put out there. We didn’t have a lot of time to train, so some of the basics we showed were what we wanted today.
“The last couple of weeks we’ve been coughing up chances when we’ve got into the 22. It felt like every time we got in there we were going to score.”
UNINTERRUPTED PREPARATIONS
The tour party will now move onto Brisbane where they will have a full uninterrupted week of preparations for the first test against Australia at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
Jamie George will join them soon after he was called up as replacement for Luke Cown-Dickie, who went off with a head injury. Garry Ringrose will also miss the first test as he hasn’t fully recovered from a concussion.
“You can see how we want to play and now we’ve got a full week of prep before next weekend,” Earls said.”
“We’re sick of living out of bags and moving on every couple of days, so we’ll enjoy tonight and then get stuck into things on Monday.”