Last updated at 11:38, Wednesday, 01 August 2012

Kells centre Danny Rowell crossed twice as the English Lions Under-18s opened their historic tour of Lebanon with a comprehensive 40-0 win.

Danny Rowell

The Lions, the first representative side from a major team sport to visit the Middle East nation, overcame soaring temperatures and the loss of two players due to a stomach bug to pull off the victory over a Lebanon Espoir side.

“That was a very good performance and we’ll only get better,” said Lions head coach Kelvin Lockett. “We’ve had to deal with quite a bit of adversity but we all pulled together and came up with a great win.

“The Espoirs should be very proud of the way they played and they competed for large spells. We’ll look forward to meeting them again on Thursday.”

The English side included Wath Brow trio Scott Pink, Karl Dixon and Ian Curnow, Egremont’s Leon Crellin and Maryport’s Sam Forrester, with Chris Tomlinson of Glasson featuring off the bench.

Due to the heat the game was played over four-quarters with the Lions taking control in the first thanks to tries from Barrow Island’s Ben Garner and Forrester, plus a Dixon conversion.

By half-time they had doubled their advantage, Rowell then striking twice after the break and captain Marcus O’Brien, of Millom, also crossing. Another Millom youngster, Ethan Kelly, played off the bench.

First published at 11:29, Wednesday, 01 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk