The British and Irish Lions scored five tries without reply to beat the Sharks 39-3 on Wednesday and record their fourth tour victory in a row.
Hooker Lee Mears, scrumhalf Mike Phillips, winger Luke Fitzgerald, fullback Lee Byrne and backrower James Heaslip all crossed the line, with Ronan O'Gara kicking five of six attempts.
The Lions rarely let the hosts close to their own line, but if Ian McGeechan's team had shown more composure close to the Sharks' line the result would have been far more emphatic. Still, the performance was far more solid than Saturday's shaky 26-24 victory over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
Wednesday's result was the first time the Lions had not allowed a try on tour after conceding three in their 37-25 victory over a Royal XV, one when beating the Golden Lions 74-10 and three against the Cheetahs.
McGeechan was more buoyant about the performance than after the 10-try crushing of the Golden Lions _ even though it was scoreless after the first 20 minutes.
"I'm very pleased," said the Scot, whose team is 10 days away from the first of three tests against world champion South Africa. "Very strong discipline, patience and very pleased that it was right through the 80 minutes. It was a very strong performance.
"I thought we didn't panic, we were just building a performance tonight and reaped the benefits in the second half. Our defense was outstanding, absolutely superb."
Captain Paul O'Connell, starting his third game on tour, said the team didn't lose patience when things were not going right in the first 20 minutes.
"If we didn't trust each other, it would have been very easy for the team to get frustrated out there," he said. "We had a lot of possession and territory and we weren't converting it into points. It was a very good sign that we stayed very patient with each other, very relaxed with each other and stayed on the job and that was a big step forward for us."
The only sour note was a yellow card for replacement prop Phil Vickery for illegal use of the boot in the 77th minute. The Sharks then lost Keegan Daniel to the sinbin for tripping Shane Williams off the ball.
The game was played before another disappointing crowd of 21,530 at the 50,000-capacity Kings Park Stadium, known locally as the Shark tank, where members of the current Springbok squad were in the crowd to take a first look at their opponents.
Against a Sharks lineup missing nine starters who are also in the Springbok squad, the Lions had plenty of possession and several times got close to the line only to let themselves down at the finish.
After the inital scoreless peroid, Phillips and Heaslip burst through and Mears finished off the move by charging over for a try that O'Gara converted.
Sharks scrumhalf Rory Kockott kicked a 30-meter penalty in the 31st to cut the lead to four points with the Lions leading 7-3 at halftime, but Phillips stretched that lead to nine points within two minutes of the restart with his first try in Lions colors.
It was a solo score, the tall Wales scrumhalf making two feints to pull the defenders out of position and go over in the corner. With a swirling wind behind him, O'Gara missed the conversion but then kicked two close-range penalties to open up a 15-point lead.
The Lions were now running the ball with confidence, cutting through the defense in the 62nd with Brian O'Driscoll bursting down the left and providing a short outside pass for Fitzgerald to go over for his first Lions try. O'Gara's conversion made it 25-3.
Byrne scored the fourth try for his second of the tour when he cut inside two Sharks and then fended off another, rolling over the line for the touchdown. Heaslip charged over near the posts in injury time.
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Lions 39 (Lee Mears, Mike Phillips, Luke Fitzgerald, Lee Byrne, Jamie Heaslip tries; Ronan O'Gara 3 conversions, 2 penalties, James Hook conversion) def. Sharks 3 (Rory Kockott penalty). HT: 7-3.
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