Jac Morgan got 20 more minutes in a British & Irish Lions shirt as he came on at the hour mark in the 21-10 win over the Waratahs in Sydney.
It was the third win for the Lions on Australian soil and was Welsh captain Morgan’s third appearance for the tourists in his bid to break into the Test team in two weeks’ time.
Head coach Andy Farrell couldn’t hide his frustration at the end of the game and wasn’t happy with the high error count and the number of dropped balls.
“We are satisfied with the win, and you have to celebrate every win. But with the amount of territory and possession we had, to come away with so much dropped ball and turnovers, to say we left a few out there is an understatement,” said Farrell.
“It’s good learning for us, a different type of game, it was close and we were under pressure. We didn’t come out the blocks hard enough and we need to address that.
“We need to address our exits after scoring tries, and we need to be more clinical there. It was a different type of game, the ground was wet, but it is good for us.
“They played hard at the breakdown, with big line speed. Sometimes we overplayed, it was better when we played more direct and off nine, so there are good learnings for us.”
The Lions move on to Canberra to face the Australia’s top Super Rugby Pacific side the Brumbies on Wednesday. Then they have a final hit out before the first Test in Brisbane with a clash against an Invitational New Zealand & Australia XV in Adelaide on Saturday.
Scottish centre Huw Jones scored twice for the Lions and man of the match Alex Mitchell dummied his way over for a third. All three were converted by Fin Smith, while the Waratahs had tries from wing Darby Lancaster and lock Ethan Dobbins.