British and Irish Lions hit 50 once again as Reds become the latest Aussie franchise to be swatted aside
Tommy Freeman and Duhan van der Merwe celebrate B&I Lions try v Reds 2025.
The British and Irish Lions made it two from two on their Australia tour as they sealed yet another dominant win, claiming a 52-12 victory over the Reds.
Once again it was not the most convincing of starts from the tourists, who found themselves 12-7 down through Jeffery Toomaga-Allen and Josh Flook tries, but they eventually got into their stride.
Tommy Freeman had briefly levelled matters for the Lions, but they found their form towards the end of the first half and moved 21-12 ahead at the break via Andrew Porter and Duhan van der Merwe scores.
The Lions would then dominate the second period and had the game won before the final quarter as Maro Itoje, Jac Morgan and Freeman crossed the whitewash.
It then became scrappy in the last 20 minutes but there was still time for Huw Jones and Garry Ringrose to go over and rubberstamp another comfortable win for the visitors.
Click here for scorers
On Saturday, the Force began with intent and ripped into their more illustrious opponents, and the Reds did the same a few days later.
Les Kiss’ outfit were outstanding in the opening quarter, running hard into contact and breaking tackles with, from the Lions’ perspective, concerning ease.
Hunter Paisami was the first to show his quality as he powered through some flimsy efforts to take the hosts deep into the opposition half.
Joe Brial then drove through Ollie Chessum and Tom Curry to keep them on the front foot before Toomaga-Allen touched down from close range to give them a deserved lead.
The Lions did eventually hit back, however, despite errors continuing to halt momentum. Too many times the tourists forced the pass but, when they did get the execution right, the Reds were unable to stop them.
At the end of the first quarter Andy Farrell’s men finally managed to put together a coherent attack and Freeman duly finished off a sweeping move.
They were not level for long, though, as a couple of Van der Merwe mistakes rather summed up their first half-hour.
The Scotland wing firstly misjudged a cross-field kick which almost resulted in a Reds try before he then remained stagnant when Kalani Thomas stabbed a grubber through. This time Van der Merwe was not so fortunate as Flook swooped in to grab the ball and score.
Thankfully for the speedster’s chances of making the Test, he improved after that, making a couple of trademark carries to get the Lions in the ascendency.
It enabled Porter to go over following a spell of pressure before Van der Merwe himself got on the scoresheet with a fine finish out wide.
There was a feeling that the Lions were beginning to get on top at the end of the first half and so it proved in the third quarter as they moved away from their opponents on the scoreboard.
Captain Itoje, who was excellent after the break, took advantage of some good work from Jamison Gibson-Park to touch down before Morgan’s excellent line resulted in the team’s fifth try.
That ended the game as a contest with the Lions finding a much better rhythm with ball in hand. Replacement half-backs Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith were swift and decisive, and that pressure eventually resulted in Freeman completing his brace.
Knowing that the game was gone, the Reds continually looked to chance their arm and it led to further errors from the hosts, with Jones and Ringrose pouncing to once again take the Lions past the half century.
The teams
Reds: 15 Jock Campbell (c), 14 Lachie Anderson, 13 Josh Flook, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Tim Ryan, 10 Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, 9 Kalani Thomas, 8 Joe Brial, 7 John Bryant, 6 Seru Uru, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 4 Josh Canham, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 Aidan Ross
Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 George Blake, 18 Sef Fa’agase, 19 Ryan Smith, 20 Angus Blyth, 21 Connor Vest, 22 Louis Werchon, 23 Isaac Henry
British and Irish Lions: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Jac Morgan, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Will Stuart, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 James Ryan, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Garry Ringrose
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)