Andy Farrell’s British and Irish Lions produced a dominant display against Australia in Brisbane to win 27-19 and move 1-0 ahead in their three-Test series.

The tourists scored three tries through centre Sione Tuipulotu, flanker Tom Curry and hooker Dan Sheehan, before taking their foot off the gas somewhat during the second period.

Fly-half and playmaker Finn Russell produced an outstanding performance in his time on the pitch, executing highlight-reel attacking moments and finishing 100 per cent off the kicking tee (one penalty, three conversions). Replacement Marcus Smith also slotted a late penalty.

The Wallabies scored through Max Jorgensen, Carlo Tizzano and Tate McDermott tries – the latter two once Australia were 19 and 15 points down respectively – but Joe Schmidt’s charges were worryingly outperformed across the park, struggling most in the physical stakes and at lineout.

Tom Curry was among the try scorers in an impressive individual performance as the Lions beat Australia in Brisbane

Sione Tuipulotu got over for the opening try of the Test after a blistering Lions start

The Lions made an ideal start to the contest as Tadhg Beirne forced a breakdown penalty 24 seconds in after a thumping Curry tackle, with Russell slotting over for 3-0.

By the ninth minute the Lions had their opening try as a purring Russell executed two exquisite pieces of attacking play: throwing an around-the-defender offload to send Sheehan running on into the 22, and then a perfect long left-hand pass for Tuipulotu to slide in untouched.

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The Lions took an early lead as Tuipulotu went over courtesy of an incredible Finn Russell pass

The Lions made their first errors in the Test shortly after as James Lowe kicked dead and Hugo Keenan then knocked on while sliding, but the tourists produced an outstanding defensive stand by their own 22, forcing Australia back repeatedly before Beirne won possession at the breakdown again.

The Lions thought they had a second try in the 19th minute when Huw Jones finished off a move down the left after fantastic play by Lowe, but a TMO review saw the score ruled out – Jones harshly ruled to have been tackled before he returned to his feet to ground.

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Huw Jones scored a second try for the Lions, but it was disallowed for failing to release the ball after being tackled

Just 10 minutes later the hosts earned a try out of nowhere as a high ball was spilled by Lions full-back Keenan, with wing Jorgensen accepting the gift to sprint in down the right.

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Max Jorgensen recovered the ball from Hugo Keenan in the air to score in the corner for Australia

Tom Lynagh missed the conversion, though, and the remainder of the half was dominated by the Lions: lock Joe McCarthy just failed to reach a Russell kick-pass, Lowe knocked on by the try-line and Maro Itoje was held up, all before Curry did score their second as he dipped his head to get over.

Russell converted for a 17-5 half-time advantage, with Curry perhaps slightly fortunate to avoid a sin-binning just before the break for hitting Lynagh hard while the Australia No 10 was still airborne.

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Curry scored the Lions’ second as they proved relentless in attack

Like in the opening period, the Lions made a flying start to the half as Curry skilfully took in an Australia lineout overthrow and the Lions scorched forward through Jones. There was no letting up until they scored, with Sheehan finishing down the wing in trademark fashion.

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The Lions came out and started the second half strong with Dan Sheehan going over to extend their lead

Russell converted wonderfully from the touchline for a hefty 24-5 lead, before Lions tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong was fortunate to avoid a sin-binning for a clear-out which caught the head of Joseph Suaalii, albeit the centre was rising.

The Wallabies soon had a flurry of 22 chances as the Lions pressure relented slightly, but Suaalii was denied a try by the TMO when replays showed he had crawled over instead of releasing the ball in an incident not too dissimilar to Jones’ disallowed score in the first half.

Wings Potter and Jorgensen were denied try chances as the bounce of the ball went against them in successive plays, but the Wallabies did get a second try when Tizzano forced his way over from close range.

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Replacement back-row Carlo Tizzano got over for Australia’s second try once they were 19 points behind

With six minutes to play, any faint hopes Australia had were extinguished when Marcus Smith kicked over a close-range penalty to restore the gap to three scores.

There remained just enough time for replacement scrum-half McDermott to snipe over, but the Lions were left far the happier come full-time.

Beirne: Hopefully I did jersey justice | Farrell & Itoje: Plenty to improve on still

Player of the Match Tadhg Beirne told Sky Sports:

“A proper Test match, particularly the last quarter, which was a real battle. Australia will take confidence with how they finished the game, we’re going to have to look at leaking penalties. Overall, we stepped up, put in a good performance and got the job done. Roll on next week.

“We need to work on our discipline. We were right on the edge near a yellow card at the end. Overall we were good, we controlled the game well and probably lost our way in the last quarter. That is where we’ll have to focus.

“I loved it [out there]. I suppose some of my performances leading up to this weren’t my best, I didn’t know if I’d be in for this game. Getting the nod was a huge honour, I knew I had to step up for it. Hopefully I did it justice.”

Tadhg Beirne was named player of the match after a superb back-row link up with Curry

Lions head coach Andy Farrell told Sky Sports:

“We started the game very well, our game control was excellent throughout.

“Our physicality was spot on in the first half, in the second we obviously lacked a bit of discipline within our own game with loose carries and offloads, as well as penalties, that slowed the game down for us.

“Plenty for us to work on, which is a good place going into game two.

“The back-row were immense. It was a talking point all week, and I’m so glad for them because they stood up.

“If you look at the start of the game, Tom Curry has a huge collision defensively and Tadgh Beirne gets the turnover. That kept on happening all night. And Jack Conan was immensely strong with ball in hand as well.”

Lions captain Maro Itoje told Sky Sports:

“It was a tough old game. No game of rugby is perfect, that definitely wasn’t perfect from us.

“It puts us in a good position because we can have some honest conversations off the back of that game, there’s lots for us to build on, we’re not complacent or comfortable.

“We put pressure on ourselves, particularly exiting our half. But we will build, get better and move on.”

What’s next: British and Irish Lions tour of Australia on Sky Sports

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Watch the British and Irish Lions’ tour of Australia exclusively live on Sky Sports this summer

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

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