Seven-try British & Irish Lions outclass hapless Stormers

Original tour captain Alun Wyn Jones came off the bench after a remarkably quick recovery from a shoulder injury to help the British & Irish Lions hammer the Stormers 49-3 in Cape Town on Saturday night.

AS IT HAPPENED | Stormers v Lions

Jones was injured in a warm-up match against Japan in Edinburgh last month and ruled out of the eight-match tour only to arrive in South Africa on Thursday, and he came off the bench after 64 minutes.

It was the Lions' fourth win in five games and they now prepare for a three-Test series against the world champion Springboks, starting in Cape Town next Saturday.

After taking the lead through a Tim Swiel penalty and holding their own for 30 minutes, a Stormers side lacking eight stars training with the Springboks trailed 21-3 at half-time and faded in the second half. 

Forwards Adam Beard, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jonny Hill, Jack Conan, Zander Fagerson and Sam Simmonds scored six of the Lions' seven tries with the other coming from substitute wing Louis Rees-Zammit.

Marcus Smith, the young England flyhalf who joined the tour party last weekend, converted all the tries and gave a polished performance as he fulfilled a childhood dream to represent the Lions. 

As a 10-year-old in Singapore, he watched the 2009 Lions lose a Test series in South Africa and told his father he would play for them one day.

His inside pass to Elliot Daly, which set up Conan for a try, was a highlight of the match in an empty Cape Town Stadium because of the coronavirus pandemic.

South Africa 'A' lose

In the first match of a double-header, a South Africa 'A' side, containing contenders for the first Test, fell 17-14 to the Bulls with a late Chris Smith penalty winning the match.   

"We needed three games to get our ducks in a row before the Test series and we got that," said Springbok head coach Jacques Nienaber.

"The result was not what we had hoped for, but a number of questions were answered, especially with regards to the readiness of individual players for selection.

"I wanted the guys to stake a claim for selection for the first Test and, unfortunately, not everyone did that.

"But I am not going to discuss individuals - any comments on them will be emotional because we are hurting.

"As a team, the performance was not there, and I blame myself for that as well. The lack of dominance from our pack was not what we had expected.

"With the late confirmation of the game, we also did not do any analysis on the Bulls and that showed, while I did expect a better set-piece platform."

"The Bulls were good and desperate, and they showed how much they wanted it. The disappointing part is that they wanted it more as a team than we did."

Aphelele Fassi and Wandesile Simelane scored first-half tries for South Africa 'A' and captain Elton Jantjies converted both for a 14-0 half-time lead. 

Flyhalf Johan Goosen, debuting for the Bulls after leaving French club Montpellier, inspired a comeback in which he converted tries by Keagan Johannes and Johan Grobbelaar before Smith became the match-winner.

Scorers:

Stormers

Penalty: Tim Swiel

British & Irish Lions

Tries: Adam Beard, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jonny Hill, Jack Conan, Zander Fagerson, Louis Rees-Zammit, Sam Simmonds

Conversions: Marcus Smith (7)

Teams:

Stormers

15 Sergeal Petersen, 14 Leolin Zas, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Leon Lyons

Substitutes: 16 Dian Bleuler, 17 Andre-Hugo Venter, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 Justin Basson, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Thomas Bursey, 22 Abner van Reenen, 23 Cornel Smit

British & Irish Lions

15 Stuart Hogg (captain, Scotland), 14 Josh Adams (Wales), 13 Elliot Daly (England), 12 Robbie Henshaw (Ireland), 11 Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland), 10 Marcus Smith (England), 9 Ali Price (Scotland), 8 Jack Conan (Ireland), 7 Hamish Watson (Scotland), 6 Tadhg Beirne (Ireland), 5 Jonny Hill (England), 4 Adam Beard (Wales), 3 Tadgh Furlong (Ireland), 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), 1 Rory Sutherland (Scotland)

Substitutes: 16 Jamie George (England), 17 Mako Vunipola (England), 18 Zander Fagerson (Scotland), 19 Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), 20 Sam Simmonds (England), 21 Gareth Davies (Wales), 22 Chris Harris (Scotland), 23 Louis Rees-Zammit (Wales)