Lions lock Geoff Parling crashes over for a try in Perth © PA Photos

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Matches: Force 17 - 69 British and Irish Lions

British & Irish Lions boss Warren Gatland has added his voice to those that have criticised the Western Force's decision to rest their front line players for their clash in Perth.

Lions legend Sir Ian McGeechan labelled the Force's decision to prioritise their Super Rugby clash this coming weekend as "disrespectful" while former Lions and England coach Sir Clive Woodward believes the elite tourists are being treated with "contempt" by their Australian hosts.

And after seeing his side claim a nine-try 69-17 victory over the Force at Patersons Stadium, Gatland has admitted that the strength of his side's opponents is a major concern in the build-up to their three-Test series with Australia later this month.

The Lions were also comfortable winners in the tour opener against the Barbarians in Hong Kong and Gatland is considering beefing up training sessions to replicate the intensity that the Lions will face when they tackle the Wallabies in Brisbane on June 22.

Gatland told Sky Sports 1: "You always want to play against stronger sides. That is a concern for us at the moment. You need the intensity. If we are not getting it from games like tonight then we'll have to look at doing it ourselves - playing with a bit more intensity in training."

He added: "Ideally, we would like to be playing against the strongest sides that we possibly can, and if we can't then we are going to have to replicate some of it in training. It's something we learnt from 2009. We arrived at that first Test against South Africa thinking we were in pretty good nick and it was a big step up. I don't think we will get caught this time. "We've just got to be aware of the opposition we are playing, and if we do have victories like tonight that we don't get too carried away with it.

More than big slabs of red meat

• ESPNscrum's Tom Hamilton is joined by Inside Rugby's Alex Broun to deliver their verdict on the Lions second match of the tour against Western Force ... click here for the full audio verdict

"We've got players who can get across the gain-line. If we can get quick ball and the forwards can get us on the front foot as well, then we have got the potential to be really dangerous. It was about us today. I wasn't worrying about the opposition. I think we are going to get a tougher game against the Reds on Saturday."

Despite the one-sided nature of the clash, Gatland was satisfied with the Lions' first challenge on Australian soil. "It was a good workout, especially for those just starting the tour," he said. "The test for us tonight was about being ruthless and playing for the full 80 minutes. It would have been easy to fall off the intensity and cruise home. But Geoff Parling, Tom Youngs and Ben Youngs gave us momentum coming off the bench.

"Overall we're pretty happy. We are getting used to the interpretation of southern hemisphere referees. That's not a criticism of the refs, we are just adjusting. We talked about keeping our patience and then, at half-time, we talked about been ruthless and finishing them off. There were one or two errors around fringes and we will work on them, tidy that up. The challenge for us coaches is who the hell are we going to pick for that first Test? At the moment there is so much competition for places and that's good for us."

Western Force coach Michael Foley admitted his side were out-played by the visitors. "We played against a Test-match standard team," he said. "They have got a lot of big powerful men, particularly (Manu) Tuilagi and (George) North. Once they get a line-break it is very hard to stop them.

"They have an outstanding scrum and a tricky lineout. When you get a group of skillful players together it's about building that momentum. Each time they play they will get better and better. I see it as being a very close Test series (against Australia). We were very fortunate to get across the line and win the Lions series 12 years ago."

Brian O'Driscoll skippered the Lions on the night in what was his first appearance of a fourth successive Lions tour and weighed in with two tries. He said: "It's always nice to get on the end of good moves. We are relatively pleased with the performance but there is plenty to work on, especially defensively. We have to continue building on this. We set a good standard in Hong Kong on Saturday. Tonight there were great aspects to the game, but plenty to work on."

Fullback Leigh Halfpenny could savour a 100% record after kicking all nine of his conversions and adding two penalties for a 24-point haul. "I'm pretty pleased with how I struck it today," he said. "When I get back on the training pitch tomorrow the work continues. I will go through my routines and Jenks (Neil Jenkins) will give me a couple of pointers. For us tonight it was about taking it to the next level and I think we did that."

Lions No.8 Jamie Heaslip takes some stopping © PA Photos

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