England Community Lions opened their tough tour of New Zealand with a 30-18 win against a North Island Select side.

On tour from West Cumbria are Wath Brow's Fran King, Karl Dixon and Curtis Teare, Tony Burns from Kells and Kieran Glenn, Tom Horner and Marcus O’Brien from Egremont.

The Lions side selected by head coach Richard Owen which took on North Island was full-back Freddy Walker, wings Gareth Gale and Teare, centres King and Jack Lazenby, stand-off Dixon, scrum-half Scott Spaven, props Mike Stark and Gareth Morgan, hooker O'Brien, second-rowers Jamie Tracey and Connor Dwyer, and loose-forward Chris Siddons.

On the interchanges bench were Danny Hirst, Tony Burns, Danny Ryding and Tom Horner.

Walker and Tracey contributed first-half tries plus three goals from Spaven to give Lions a half-time lead and they went on to wrap up the victory to start their tour in style.

The Lions have two more games to play, with a 22-strong squad out there to provide plenty of cover and options.

They are set to take on the New Zealand Maoris next on Sunday and finish off next Friday against the New Zealand Residents.

A replay of the game is available to watch on the OuRLeague smartphone app, while the match was also broadcast live on Sky Sports NZ.