Austin Healey struggled for possession

Having turned down an earlier opportunity to kick for goal, Edmonds changed his plan to quickly level the scores.

Minutes later, he made it 6-3, only for Jenkins to reply after a surging run from Scott Quinnell had forced Australia to kill the ball.

But the hosts were dominating from the restarts, denying scrum half Austin Healey and the Lions any sort of possession.

A poor pass from Will Greenwood put the tourists under unnecessary pressure and after Dallaglio was penalised, Edmonds put his side ahead for the first time.

He added a further six points before half time as the Lions struggled to get into the game.

Lions stir

After the break, Australia A continued their surge when, ten minutes into the second period, Bond cut inside Ben Cohen to release Scott Staniforth and he crossed the Lions line for the first try.

Edmonds converted as Henry sent on Matt Dawson and immediately the change paid dividends.

Jason Robinson's late try was not enough

Dawson replaced Healey at scrum-half, with the Leicester maestro moving to fly half in place of the below-par Jenkins.

Seconds later, Dawson showed his class with a quick tap penalty to present Mark Taylor with a try.

Edmonds added two further penalties, the second after Dallaglio was sin-binned for playing the ball on the ground.

But the Lions were given hope by another try that again featured the impressive Swansea centre.

Taylor collected Healey's long pass before committing the Australian defence and sending Matt Perry over to make it 28-18.

Jason Robinson then added another five points to give the Lions late hope but despite Dawson's conversion the Lions simply ran out of time.