Lions Tour:Brian O'Driscoll saw the British and Irish Lions post their biggest win in South Africa for 35 years, then declared: "Hopefully, it is the start of things to come."

Ireland's Grand Slam skipper scored one of the Lions' 10 tries in a crushing 74-10 victory over the Golden Lions at Ellis Park.

Not since a 97-3 success against South-West Districts in 1974 had the Lions swept aside South African opposition with such contemptuous ease.

And O'Driscoll already looks to have found his centre partner for the first Test against South Africa in Durban on June 20th.

Wales midfield powerhouse Jamie Roberts scored two tries, hitting it off with O'Driscoll to such an extent that they created chance after chance.

And how their team-mates prospered, with impressive wings Tommy Bowe and Ugo Monye also claiming try doubles, while flanker Tom Croft, outhalf James Hook and backrow forward Stephen Ferris joined O'Driscoll in touching down.

Stephen Jones compounded the Golden Lions' misery by kicking 18 points, with Hook slotting three late conversions.

"Hopefully, this is the start of things to come," said O'Driscoll.

"We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but there is a huge amount of positivity.

"If you score 70 points against a Super 14 team, then someone has got to take some notice of it.

"We didn't concede a point in the second half. We could have taken our foot off the gas, but we were adamant at half-time we were going to keep them scoreless."

Lions head coach Ian McGeechan admitted his team's runaway triumph had "exceeded expectations".

McGeechan said: "We were very accurate and very disciplined in what we did.

"The performance exceeded expectations. We did the right things at the right times - the players' thinking on the field was first class.

"It has given us a good sighter of what is possible, but we know we have to lift ourselves further.

"I probably wouldn't have written that score down on a piece of paper before the game, but we kept playing for 80 minutes and kept our focus."

Roberts, meanwhile, was quick to deflect praise from his strong-running contribution, stating: "There is still quite a lot to work on.

"It is up to the guys going out on Saturday now (against the Cheetahs) to raise the bar again.

"There were 15 man-of-the-matches out there.

"It was pretty special playing alongside Brian. Fingers crossed, I will get the chance again."

Golden Lions skipper Cobus Grobbelaar conceded his shell-shocked team had been outclassed.

"They played very well. We tried our best, but it wasn't good enough," he said.

"We tried to put pressure on them, but you must give credit where it is due.

"They were better than us in the scrum and they kept us under pressure all night, so they deserved their win."

McGeechan, meanwhile, reaffirmed that Ireland centre Gordon D'Arcy will link up with the squad in Johannesburg today.

D'Arcy has been summoned as cover for midfield injuries, with Riki Flutey, Luke Fitzgerald and Keith Earls all currently recovering from various ailments.

McGeechan said: "He will arrive in Johannesburg, and then go down to Bloemfontein with us later in the day.

"He will do a day of rehab. If the medics are happy, we will involve him in training on Friday."