British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton was delighted to come through his debut for the tourists unscathed after a tough match against the Queensland Reds on Saturday which kept alive his dream of an unbeaten tour.
The 24-year-old Welsh flanker had a solid match and almost scored a try as the Lions held off a fired-up Reds side and came away with a 22-12 victory in what is likely to be their toughest match outside of the three tests against the Wallabies.
"It was a good one just to get used to the tempo," Warburton, the 800th player to represent the Lions, said.
"Now that we've experienced that, we'll benefit from that hugely.
"I thought a lot of aspects of the game went very well for us. Pretty well rounded performance."
Warburton's goal of not losing a match and emulating the 1974 Lions should not now be jeopardised outside the games against the Wallabies.
"Wanting to go through unbeaten, now that might come across as a bit arrogant to some people, but it's just a goal," Warburton explained.
"It's a challenge, which was first of all put to me by (tour manager) Andy Irvine and, being very ambitious, I liked the sound of it.
"It's always going to be massively tough. I found that out the hard way, playing in Australia quite a few times with little success.
"We're extremely confident with the squad we've got here, there's just so much class, I think it's definitely achievable."
One of the reassuring aspects of Saturday's game for Warburton was that he did not feel the sore knee that kept him out of the first two matches of the tour - big wins over the Barbarians and Western Force.
"It's always a bonus to come through injury free," he said.
"The medics did a great job over the last few weeks. It feels fantastic now. No problems with it.
"I haven't played for seven weeks, so pleased I came through 75 (minutes) or whatever it was. Look forward to the next one now."
The Lions will now prepare to face a Combined Country XV in Newcastle on Tuesday.
