By Mark Carruthers
Andy Farrell believes the British and Irish Lions are 鈥榗onstantly learning鈥 after watching his side claim an impressive 52-12 win in their latest tour match against Queensland Reds. After bouncing back from a defeat against Argentina by racking up 54-7 win against Western Force on Saturday, the Lions hit a half century for the second consecutive game as they moved on from a slow start at the Suncorp Stadium. After the hosts raced out of the blocks in the opening stages, the two sides had shared four tries in the opening half-hour as Tommy Freeman and Andrew Porter crossed the line for the Lions and Jeffery Toomaga-Allan and Josh Flook got the Reds on the scoresheet. However, that was as good as it got for the Reds as the Lions roared into life as half-time approached. Scotland star Duhan van der Merwe extended their lead ahead of the interval and three tries inside the opening 20 minutes of the second-half took them out of sight as captain Maro Itoje, eventual man of the match Jac Morgan and Glasgow Warriors centre Huw Jones all crossed the line. England winger Freeman doubled his tally on the hour and Garry Ringrose rounded off a dominant display in the final seconds of the contest. The Lions will now turn their focus towards Saturday鈥檚 tour match with the Waratahs at Sydney鈥檚 Allianz Stadium as they continue to build towards the first test with Australia in just over a fortnight. For head coach Farrell, there were mixed emotions after Tuesday鈥檚 win over the Reds as the Saracens and England star reflected on what he felt was a 鈥榮top-start鈥 performance from his side. The Lions head coach told Sky Sports: 鈥淚t was a bit of everything, I don鈥檛 think it was flowing from us, it was a little bit stop-start but when we were on we played some really good stuff. I thought we got over a bit of a slow start, the Reds came out of the blocks pretty aggressively especially in the first 10 to 15 minutes – but I thought we settled down pretty well, we played some good stuff throughout the game. 鈥淲hen the game was won, we got a little bit stop-start and the continuity of our game wasn鈥檛 where we wanted it to be but we defended pretty well, our collision work was pretty good, which gave us a full line and we kept them out again in the second half. The restart, we had a problem at the front of the restart and it was at the back of the field in the first half – but this is where we are at now with the tour, the games are coming thick and fast, we are using those games to fast-track ourselves to the place that we want to be so there is constant learning there.鈥 Your next Rugby Union read: Emotional Scotland star reflects on ‘dream’ British and Irish Lions call-up