YOU'RE TOO SOFT FOR US!

The Lions were blasted for being too soft to win the Test series after opening their tour with a convincing win over an Eastern Province XV at Port Elizabeth yesterday.

The Mighty Elephants' skipper Jaco Kirsten wrote off their Test chances, saying: "I think they lack physical strength up front and we can beat them by taking the Lions on there.

"The backs by contrast were very impressive. They showed the ball handling skills to do very well, but the forwards are vulnerable. Definitely."

Kirsten should know. As hooker he was right in the middle of a battle which was always bruising but generally clean.

The Lions started superbly with a great try by Jeremy Guscott, his first of two, but found themselves 11-10 down after a string of errors.

They got back on song in the last 20 minutes to score four more tries and thrill a 30,000 crowd, while Neil Jenkins slotted six of his eight kicks.

Despite Kirsten's criticism, coach Ian McGeechan said he was delighted by the way the Lions finished the game off.

He said: "We know we have a lot to do before the series starts but this was a hell of an opening for us."

Guscott agreed: "We were very satisfied. The whole changing room is on a high and as the tour goes on we'll get better."

Scott Quinnell was the outstanding forward, blasting through the Eastern Province defence time and again.

He said: "We showed today what talent there is in the backs. It's up to us to provide them with the opportunities to destroy other sides."

This team has never played together and naturally needed time to put all the training work into match action.

They made too many mistakes early on in their determination to throw the ball around at every opportunity.

Guscott and Will Greenwood shared three tries and showed enough clever touches to show they will be a real handful over the next two months.

Guscott, on his third Lions tour, had the privilege of scoring the first try, slicing through between the South African centres as Gregor Townsend flung out a huge pass that missed inside centre Greenwood, to supply the room for Jerry to surge through.

But errors and dropped passes allowed Eastern Province, reinforced by World Cup winners Kobus Wiese and Hennie le Roux, to dominate either side of half-time.

Both Jenkins and Townsend had nightmares trying to clear their lines, repeatedly sending kicks down full-back Theo van Rensburg's throat.

But the sight of right-wing Deon Keyser scorching through the middle, leaving the Lions defence for dead for a glorious try, shook the tourists into instant overdrive.

Within a minute, Scotland prop Tom Smith had roused his side with a mighty plunge to within 10 yards of the line.

The home side cleared that danger but were coming under increasing pressure as the Lions began to click.

Scots lock Doddie Weir regained the lead for the tourists after Scott Quinnell roared off a scrum and found Weir at his shoulder to finish the move off in the 63rd minute.

Jenkins, who had hit the post with an earlier penalty attempt, again sent his conversion crashing against the woodwork, but the Lions now had their tails up.

Jenkins stretched the lead to 18-11 with a penalty, and would have had another try but for a sloppy pass by Simon Shaw which Guscott almost took down by his bootlaces.

But substitute wing Tony Underwood, on for Ieuan Evans, made no mistake when he picked up a loose pass from Jenkins and raced through for a try with his first touch.

Jenkins converted to put the Lions clear at 25-11, and within moments he was lining up another conversion after Townsend made a half-break and found Greenwood on his elbow.

Greenwood got his reward for some outstanding play with the closing try from a cleverly worked pass by Underwood.

Weise and Aussie Sam Scott-Young were both penalised for isolated bouts of stamping, but happily there was no repeat of the all-out violence that marred England's game in the stadium three years ago when Tim Rodber was sent off.

Rodber had been due to play yesterday but was forced to withdraw because of a virus. He is expected to be fit again for the Lions' next game on Wednesday against Border.

Before then, the tourists will have to fine-tune their throwing in at the line-out.

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