Lions rack up another half century against Reds but injury woes mount

Maro Itoje stamped his authority on the British and Irish Lions with a commanding display as the Queensland Reds were overwhelmed 52-12 at Suncorp Stadium.

Making his first appearance in Australia as Lions captain, Itoje was at the heart of an eight-try rout that saw the England skipper leave his calling card on Brisbane two-and-a-half weeks out from the first Test at the same venue.

Elliot Daly, Bundee Aki and man of the match Jac Morgan also impressed, while another pleasing development was the promise shown by first-choice half-back partnership Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell.

Paired together for the first time because of Gibson-Park’s recent glute injury, they played 50 minutes and linked well despite having been limited to one training session as a combination.

Russell was replaced after 50 minutes having also started against Western Force four days earlier and was followed off the field by Daly, who took a heavy bang to his left arm to raise concern over his ongoing tour prospects.

Daly was making an astonishing 11th successive appearance in a Lions matchday 23 but was drafted into the team at short notice after Hugo Keenan was forced to withdraw because of illness.

The Lions continued with their high-risk, high-reward running game and while it produced a 21-12 interval lead against a Reds team that finished fifth in this year’s Super Rugby, the knock-on count at the same stage was 8-1 in the hosts’ favour.

It was their third outing on tour but they played like a team that had been thrown together in an error-strewn first quarter that saw two scrum penalties conceded, a line-out lost and the Reds boss the breakdown.

Tommy Freeman, Daly and Tom Curry made simple handling errors and there was worse to come when number eight Joe Brial swatted aside Curry and Ollie Chessum for Jeffery Toomaga-Allen to touch down.

The Lions hit back with a slick try for Freeman directed by Russell but the hosts restored their lead when Kalani Thomas kicked through for Josh Flook to gather and score, punishing Duhan van der Merwe’s hesitation in defence.

There was ground to be made in the wide channels for Farrell’s men, although their next try came from a route-one approach when Andrew Porter barged across from a short-range free-kick.

The Lions’ extra firepower was evident in open play and it was sharp handling by Chessum and Jack Conan that sent Van der Merwe over in the corner.

Gibson-Park produced a pleasing moment given his recent injury issues with a sniping run after a hard carry by Aki that set up a try for Itoje.

Faced with the arrival of the Lions’ heavy duty bench reinforcements, the Reds were folding, with Alex Mitchell sending Morgan over before Freeman showed his strength to score after impressive build-up play.

Itoje was growing in stature as the match wore on and there were late tries for Huw Jones and Garry Ringrose, driving the final nail into the hosts’ coffin.