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Andrew Porter and Garry Ringrose on mark as Lions win comfortably

Garry Ringrose completed the scoring for the Lions
Garry Ringrose completed the scoring for the Lions

Andrew Porter and Garry Ringrose were on the scoresheet as the British & Irish Lions pulled away to overcome the Queensland Reds 52-12 in the second tour match in Australia.

Tommy Freeman grabbed two tries and Porter, Duhan van der Merwe, Maro Itoje, Jac Morgan, Huw Jones and Ringrose all also crossed as the Lions disappointed those in the 46,435 crowd at Brisbane's Lang Park who were hoping for an upset.

Jeffery Toomaga-Allen and Josh Flook had given the local fans hope with tries in the first 26 minutes before the tourists, who made nine handling errors in the first half, hit their formidable stride.

Itoje was rested for the match against the Western Force last weekend, leading to some conjecture that his test place was under threat, but he made a mockery of the idea with a statement performance in the second row.

Elliot Daly, Bundee Aki and man of the match Morgan also impressed, while another pleasing development was the promise shown by first-choice half-back partnership Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell.

Paired together for the first time because of Gibson-Park's recent glute injury, they played 50 minutes and linked well despite having been limited to one training session as a combination.

Russell was replaced after 50 minutes having also started against Western Force four days earlier and was followed off the field by Daly, who took a heavy bang to his left arm to raise concern over his ongoing tour prospects.

Daly was making an astonishing 11th successive appearance in a Lions matchday 23 but was drafted into the team at short notice after Hugo Keenan was forced to withdraw because of illness.

The Lions continued with their high-risk, high-reward running game and while it produced a 21-12 interval lead against a Reds team that finished fifth in this year's Super Rugby, the knock-on count at the same stage was 8-1 in the hosts' favour.

It was their third outing on tour but they played like a team that had been thrown together in an error-strewn first quarter that saw two scrum penalties conceded, a line-out lost and the Reds boss the breakdown.

Tommy Freeman, Daly and Tom Curry made simple handling errors and there was worse to come when number eight Joe Brial swatted aside Curry and Ollie Chessum for Jeffery Toomaga-Allen to touch down.

The Lions hit back with a slick try for Freeman directed by Russell but the hosts restored their lead when Kalani Thomas kicked through for Josh Flook to gather and score, punishing Duhan van der Merwe's hesitation in defence.

There was ground to be made in the wide channels for Farrell's men, although their next try came from a route-one approach when Andrew Porter barged across from a short-range free-kick.

Jamison Gibson-Park impressed for the Lions

The Lions' extra firepower was evident in open play and it was sharp handling by Chessum and Jack Conan that sent Van der Merwe over in the corner.

Gibson-Park produced a pleasing moment given his recent injury issues with a sniping run after a hard carry by Aki that set up a try for Itoje.

Faced with the arrival of the Lions' heavy duty bench reinforcements, the Reds were folding, with Alex Mitchell sending Morgan over before Freeman showed his strength to score after impressive build-up play.

Itoje was growing in stature as the match wore on and there were late tries for Huw Jones and Garry Ringrose, driving the final nail into the hosts' coffin

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