British and Irish Lions ease past Western Force

The British and Irish Lions have won their first tour match in Australia with a 69-17 victory over Western Force in Perth.

The tourists scored nine tries at the Patersons Stadium as they followed up their triumph over the Barbarians on the weekend.

An early penalty from Leigh Halfpenny got the visitors off the mark before the Welshman added the extras to Jonathan Sexton's try on 13 minutes.

Despite a strong start from the Lions, Western Force were allowed on the scoreboard in the 33rd minute when Brett Sheehan kicked over a penalty.

However, veteran Brian O'Driscoll squeezed over in the corner moments later to put the tourists 15-3 ahead and Halfpenny scored the conversion from a tight angle to strengthen their advantage.

The Lions were dealt a blow towards the end of the half when Cian Healy was forced off on a stretcher with an ankle injury, but a further try from Tom Croft, converted by Halfpenny, gave them a 27-3 lead at the break.

A frantic start to the second half saw Jamie Heaslip and replacement Mako Vunipola both go over for the Lions either side of a Richard Brown try for the hosts.

Meanwhile, Halfpenny kept up his tremendous kicking display with two more conversions.

Tommy Bowe then showed brute strength to touch down on the hour, allowing Halfpenny to kick over again.

The tries kept coming soon after as Lechlan McCaffrey got his name on the scoresheet for Western Force, but the Lions hit back again when O'Driscoll and replacement Owen Farrell both went over.

Halfpenny kicked over both conversions and ended the match with 24 points to his name after adding the extras to substitute Geoff Parling's score.