England coach Clive Woodward was again at pitchside to watch the Lions and he brought them more luck than he did at Gosford. The tourists got the win that they needed through forward dominance and a real cutting edge out wide, with Jason Robinson, one of Woodward's captures from Rugby League grabbing two tries in the first half and hardly putting a foot wrong all game.

It started badly for the Waratahs when their dangerman, second row Tom Bowman went straight to the bin off the kick-off for an over-zealous challenge, and it was uphill for the home side after that.

As predicted the Lions nudged the first scrum dead straight and the Waratah backs were immediately on the back foot. The opening try for the tourists came on three minutes. Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson cleverly switched direction and Brian O'Driscoll, at his attacking best, broke the gainline. Neil Back, in his now familiar 'third centre' role, then crafted a pass for Jason Robinson. He then flicked in on to the motoring O'Driscoll who scooted in for the try.

Then it went from the sublime to the ridiculous for the Lions. Play swept down to the other end of the pitch, Lawrence Dallaglio lost ball on the edge of a ruck, and Wilkinson tried to flip it on to his winger to make the clearance. The only problem was that Dafydd James was nowhere to be found. Waratah blindside Stu Pinkerton duly scooped the ball up and trotted in for the try.

Jason Robinson, now surely a dead cert for the left wing slot in the first Test match was eager for work all night and grabbed his first try on the quarter hour. Danny Grewcock made a typically strong drive over the Waratah 22, setting a good target. Wilkinson fired the inside pass to Greenwood and Robinson was there on his shoulder to roar in.

The ex-Wigan flyer added a second on 34 minutes after good build-up work by Back, Grewcock and Matt Dawson. Robinson pounced on a loose ball, rocketed through a gap and scored. As Graham Henry said after Robinson's five-try haul in Townsville, this guy like scoring tries.

In between Robinson's double, Will Greenwood departed, groggy after a couple of big hit-ups. His linking with Wilkinson and O'Driscoll have put him right in the frame for the inside centre berth for Saturday.

The Lions bench then produced a surprise as Ronan O'Gara came on to replace Greenwood in the fly-half spot with Wilkinson shifting out to inside centre. A nice trick, but the Lions lost some of their momentum as the half drew to a close, although Wilkinson did add a penalty goal.

The second half opened up with some thunderous rugby from the Waratahs. First number 8 Fili Finau made a big bust up the middle, and they then went one better on 45 minutes after Manny Edmonds went on the loop on the Lions 22 before lofting a pass to Duncan McRae who fed Francis Cullimore to score, although there was a hint of forward movement on both passes.

The Waratahs began to grow in confidence as they stretched the Lions defence wider and wider. They scored again on 51 minutes when centre Sam Harris squeezed over through a goal line ruck. 17-24 game on.

The Lions responded with a big lineout take at the tail by Dallaglio, backed up by a strong Scott Quinnell drive. Quinnell had a great game with ball in hand, always taking two or three desperate tacklers with him.

What followed was a couple of minutes of madness. As the Lions pressed, Duncan McRae let loose a flurry on blows on Ronan O'Gara while he had the young Munsterman pinned to the turf. What can be charitably put down to a 'rush of blood' was all the more distasteful as O'Gara was easily the smallest player on the pitch at the time, and probably the most good-natured off it. McRae received a straight red card from referee Scott Young and rightly so.

A couple of other dust-ups followed as the forwards, obviously aggrieved not to have got in on the earlier altercation, got stuck in. At one stage two separate brawls were going on and the officials struggled to maintain order. Referee Young sent forwards to the bin, which it must be said restored a semblance of detente, and we went to uncontested scrums during the miscreants' absence.

With four fewer players on the pitch the game opened up and the Lions had the better of it. They worked the ball around intelligently with backs and forwards combining well. Leicester's Neil Back was creator in chief, standing out wide holding it up before releasing pace around him. It was his pass that put Jonny Wilkinson in for a try on 65 minutes, a score notable for a five metre slide to the goal line.

The last ten minutes were scrappy and while the home side came back strongly, both sides scored a try apiece, James crossing for the Lions, and the impressive Edmonds for the Waratahs. On the whole, Job done for the tourists. Greenwood's knock is a worry and lets hope O'Gara isn't too badly shaken after his battering. As expected the pack set the platform, and with the midfield creating and Robinson popping up to finish things off, it's full steam ahead.