Irish centre Brian O'Driscoll capped a man-of-the-match display for the Lions against Australia at the Gabba with one of the finest tries in Lions' history.

The 22-year-old Blackrock College and Leinster player made his name with a hat-trick of tries against France in Paris in 2000, but his stunning solo score after 42 minutes in the first Test surpassed even that achievement.

The try, which put the Lions 17-3 ahead, vividly illustrated the Lions' key strengths: progressive forward play and devastating movement from the backs.

But although the ball passed through 13 pairs of hands before O'Driscoll crossed the line, it was very much a virtuoso try.

Scrum-half Rob Howley then moved the ball to Jonny Wilkinson on his right.

He slipped a pass along to O'Driscoll on halfway and the Irishman brilliantly evaded three Australians to break free.

George Smith had drifted wide, Jeremy Paul was off the pace and O'Driscoll nonchalantly brushed past Nathan Grey's attempted tackle.

There was still work to do, but he superbly jinked past Matt Burke and he then outran Joe Roff and Andrew Walker to score under the posts.

O'Driscoll was one of the few people not getting carried away by the breath-taking score when he described it later.

"I got the ball from Jonny (Wilkinson), and I could see that there were a couple of their forwards in the back line, " the BBC Sport Online columnist said.

"There were numbers either side of me, but I managed to come off my inside shoulder and went through. Then I looked for an off-load, but Matt Burke read that and I got the soft shoulder on him as well."

But Lions coach Graham Henry is well aware of the special talent that he has at his disposal.

"He was quite superb. He is a young man who played fantastically, and is electric with the ball."