British and Irish Lions: Joe McCarthy, Henry Pollock shine as Scott Cummings struggles, Sione Tuipulotu has quiet game | Rugby Union News

Joe McCarthy and Henry Pollock staked claims for Test inclusion while Scott Cummings and Sione Tuipulotu struggled as the British and Irish Lions began life in Australia with a 54-7 win over Western Force.

Andy Farrell’s side responded to last week’s disappointing 28-24 defeat to Argentina by turning on the style in the second half to run riot in Perth.

As the Lions squad move on to Brisbane to face the Reds on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports, we look at the winners and losers following Saturday’s victory…

McCarthy a real standout in forwards while Pollock shows his skills

When 24-year-old McCarthy broke into the Irish team as a permanent fixture in 2024, he appeared a lock who had it all.

Size, power, pace, offloading. Yet, his form tailed off since that initial spark and there’s a sense we’ve yet to truly see the best of McCarthy. Andy Farrell gave him his Lions chance nonetheless, and on Saturday in Perth he really showed what he is capable of.

Named player of the match, McCarthy was everywhere and an obvious pick as the best on the park. He made 14 carries – thundering into contact – and some 20 tackles, earning 37 metres with ball in hand and forcing three notable turnovers. While some Lions players looked tired through the contest, perhaps feeling the effects of jet lag or training, McCarthy just kept going.

His superb defensive work at the maul seemed to quell the Force’s initial impact, while he combined twice with Tadhg Beirne to rip possession back at the breakdown in the first half.

“Joe has a massive ceiling, and I’ve seen it up close and personal,” three-time Lions tourist Conor Murray told Sky Sports. “I don’t know if many people would have been talking about him as a Test starter but after today he has certainly put up his hand.”

Two-time Lions tour captain Sam Warburton added: “McCarthy is a Test match starter for me, he’s physically dominant. McCarthy and [Maro] Itoje look a stunning potential pairing, and McCarthy laid down a marker today.”

The other big winner for the Lions in the forward back was 20-year-old back-row Pollock.

It wasn’t a perfect day for Pollock – he made some handling errors and was sin-binned late in the first half due to a team warning for repeat penalties after failing to release before a breakdown poach – but demonstrated in clear terms his immense talent too.

His delayed pass, pace, composure and offload for Tomos Williams’ first try was first class, while his piece of play to sprint, chip ahead, regather, release the ball on the ground and go again before McCarthy’s try was a unique for a back-row forward.

Keep performing like this and Pollock – who is tremendously quick over the ground – will force his way into the Test match 23.

Cummings struggles at lock as Tuipulotu fails to shine again

One of the big losers from Saturday’s clash was Scottish second row Scott Cummings, who did not enjoy a good day.

The big, glaring area of errors during the contest by the Lions was at restarts, and Cummings was personally responsible for failing to gather four – twice misjudging the flight of the ball, once spilling backwards, one conceding a penalty – each time allowing the Force onto the attack immediately and putting his side under massive pressure.

In fact, the Lions won just one restart cleanly during the match as Force often went short as well, with Cummings – as a starting Lions lock – failing to get a handle on a crucial area.

Cummings was hooked off after 49 minutes having only made five carries and also seen one lineout delivery to him stolen.

In the backs, Tuipulotu was handed his second start – this time in his more favoured channel of inside-centre – but again saw a Lions fixture bypass him in a really quiet performance.

The stats show he put his hand up for 16 carries, but a host of these lacked impact as the 28-year-old failed to stand out. Bundee Aki won’t have been too stressed watching on.

Williams injury a potential personal disaster as Hansen, Russell, Daly impress

Potentially the biggest loser from Saturday’s clash was a player who didn’t even perform poorly in scrum-half Tomos Williams. In actual fact, he played well.

The 30-year-old backed up his positive cameo off the bench against Argentina with a really lively showing in Perth which saw him claim two tries: the first made by Pollock, the second a wonderful counter-attacking score when he combined superbly with James Lowe.

It was diving to finish that second try that seems to have done damage to Williams’ hamstring, however, as the Welshman was subbed off straight away. He will dearly hope he hasn’t picked up anything serious.

Elsewhere in the backline Finn Russell was perhaps the standout in a polished performance. The 32-year-old is just pure quality as a playmaker, executing a fabulous kick-pass for Dan Sheehan’s opening try, while showing smarts, composure and skill to quick-tap and race ahead before offloading off the deck for Elliot Daly’s first try.

He kicked well off the tee, defended his channel fantastically, and was a consistent creative spark.

In the back-three, Mack Hansen and full-back Daly came out of the contest with Test chances enhanced. Hansen’s immense double effort in the second half to save a try at one end in chasing back a loose ball before sprinting and challenging under his own kick at the other to force a knock-on was picked out by Farrell afterwards as the “play of the match.”

Daly is an interesting one. The England and Saracens man wasn’t in many people’s predicted Lions touring squads, but by virtue of the fact Hugo Keenan is injured (calf) and Blair Kinghorn is still in France with Toulouse (Top 14 final), an opportunity was arisen at full-back which he is starting to fully grab with both hands.

The 32-year-old was safe and secure under the high ball, has a big left boot, and is attacking as well as he ever has, popping up with two tries from a display which saw him make 95 metres with the ball.

British & Irish Lions tour of Australia on Sky Sports

Sky Sports will exclusively show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches to be shown exclusively live.