Rugby: British and Irish Lions score resounding win over Stormers

Duhan van Der Merwe of the British and Irish Lions tries to break through the DHL Stormers defence during a rugby match between the DHL Stormers and British and Irish Lions. Photo / AP.

The British and Irish Lions rounded off the warmup part of their tour of South Africa with a resounding 49-3 win over the Stormers on Saturday.

There were a bunch of positives for the Lions on top of their seven-try victory: Lock Alun Wyn Jones came off the bench to play the last 25 minutes and confirm his return from a dislocated shoulder that initially ruled the Lions captain out of the tour completely.

The forwards were rampant, contributing six of the tries at Cape Town Stadium.

And Marcus Smith provided a thorough display at No. 10 after being a late callup to the squad to cover for two other specialist flyhalves who are nursing injuries.

Coach Warren Gatland was likely highly satisfied with how the Lions rebounded from a midweek loss to a South Africa A team that contained many of the Springboks the Lions will face in the first test next Saturday.

There was even good news for the Lions before their game. Another South Africa A lineup, made up this time mainly of Springboks reserves, had a shock 17-14 loss to domestic team the Bulls at the same Cape Town Stadium a few hours before the Lions played.That was a blow to the world champions' preparations for the three-test series, which kicks off at Cape Town Stadium in a week.

For the Lions, locks Adam Beard and Jonny Hill, and hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie scored tries in the first half. No. 8 Jack Conan, replacement prop Zander Fagerson and replacement loose forward Sam Simmonds went over in the second half.

Wing Louis Rees-Zammit scored the second-to-last try and was the only back to cross.Smith, who was near-perfect all game, converted all seven tries.

South Africa A slipped to its defeat against the Bulls after being 14-0 up at halftime. That match was hastily arranged this week to give South Africa's squad some much-needed game time ahead of the tests.

Although South Africa A wasn't a full-strength Springboks, it was still expected to win and win impressively. The Bulls are the South African domestic champions but were also without many of their front-line players.

South Africa A led through tries by fullback Aphelele Fassi in the 12th minute and center Wandisile Simelane in the 38th.

But the Bulls, now under South Africa's 2007 World Cup-winning coach Jake White, scored two tries in two minutes from the 65th minute to draw level.

Former Springbok Johan Goosen, who started at flyhalf for the Bulls, set up both, the first for replacement back Keagan Johannes. Goosen made the offload that caused the break that ultimately saw reserve hooker Johan Grobbelaar run clear and dot down between the posts for the second try.

Goosen converted both tries and replacement flyhalf Chris Smith kicked a penalty from way out with five minutes to go for the win.

South Africa A started with just one player considered a first-choice for the Springboks, inside center Damian de Allende.But South Africa's No. 2 flyhalf, Elton Jantjies, captained the team, and fellow 2019 World Cup winners Vincent Koch, Kwagga Smith and Cobus Reinach also started.

The Springboks have been battling a COVID-19 outbreak in their squad and a group of players, including captain Siya Kolisi, is still in Johannesburg self-isolating after testing positive for the virus.