Lions hold off First Nations and Pasifika XV 24-19 in a rugged tour game in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The British and Irish Lions held off the First Nations and Pasifika XV 24-19 in a tough, physical contest on Tuesday in the last of their midweek games on the Australian tour.

The Lions can now focus on trying to clinch the three-test series against the Wallabies on Saturday in Melbourne after winning the first match 27-19 last weekend in Brisbane.

“We've given ourselves a bit of a fright," Lions head coach Andy Farrell said. “Congratulations to the First Nations and Pasifika team, (they) made it a hard-fought contest that's for sure.”

The Lions are now 7-0 in Australia, including the test match, victories over Super Rugby franchises Western Force,Queensland Reds, Waratahs and Brumbies and two invitational teams.

Jamie Osborne scored the opening tries of each half Tuesday and the Lions twice had big leads before being pinned back by the First Nations and Pasifika team, which was drawn from players with Indigenous Australia and Pacific Islands heritage.

Making the most of a penalty advantage, the Lions took a 24-14 lead with 15 minutes to play when Owen Farrell dummied a pass to unsettle the defense and send an unmarked Duhan van der Merwe over in the left corner.

But the invitational team rallied again, cutting the lead to five points in the 71st when Rob Leota scored a try from close range and finishing the match hard in attack just as they did in the first half.

Backrower Charlie Gamble was awarded player of the match despite being on the losing side, helping combat the Lions' superior field position and possession with his relentless work at the breakdown.

“It’s pretty tough when you see (critics saying) we’re going to get smashed by 50,” Gamble said of the lopsided expectations ahead of the game. “But you know, we showed that we deserved to be out there, and we played very hard for each other.”

It had been 14-14 at halftime after each team scored two converted tries and spent 10 minutes giving up a numerical advantage because of yellow cards.

The Lions races to 14-0 after center Osborne chased through Fin Smith's chip kick and touched down, while winger Darcy Graham crossed out wide.

From a lineout win by Henry Pollock, the Lions created an overlap with players looping in midfield and sent a long, floating pass to the unmarked Scottish winger. But Graham had to leave the field soon after with an injury.

The last hour was much more of a grinding contest, with the First Nations and Pasifika team at times outmuscling the Lions, forcing mistakes.

Triston Reilly, who was yellow-carded early, returned to score the First Nations and Pasifika's opening try after an intercept.

Blindside flanker Seru Uru picked up and reached over amid three tacklers in the 23rd minute and Kurtley Beale converted to level the score, ensuring the touring Lions knew they were in a contest.

As tempers flared, Pollock and Uru were warned by the referee for a pushing and shoving episode that the young Lions No. 8 would certainly have learned from. The match remained intensely physical but didn't get out of hand.

“If you look at the game, how we started, we started on fire ... but they (First Nations and Pasifika) tightened back up and took the most of their opportunities,” Andy Farrell said. “It shows how much it means to them.”

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

Henry Pollock of the British & Irish Lions, right, tackles First Nations & Pacifika XV's Mesake Doge during their rugby union match in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

THIS CORRECTS TO ANDY MUIRHEAD, NOT TRISTON REILLY - Darcy Graham British & Irish Lions, left, is tackled by First Nations & Pacifika XV's Andy Muirhead during their rugby union match in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

James Ryan of the British & Irish Lions, right, attempts to block a kick by First Nations & Pacifika XV's Kalani Thomas during their rugby union match in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Garry Ringrose of the British & Irish Lions, second right, attempts to get past First Nations & Pacifika XV's Kalani Thomas, second left, during their rugby union match in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Henry Pollock of the British & Irish Lions, center, is pushed in the head by First Nations & Pacifika XV's Seru Uru during their rugby union match in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaragua’s Interior Ministry said Saturday the country would release dozens of prisoners, as the United States ramped up pressure on leftist President Daniel Ortegaa week after it ousted former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

On Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua said Venezuela had taken an important step toward peace by releasing what it described as “political prisoners.” But it lamented that in Nicaragua, “more than 60 people remain unjustly detained or disappeared, including pastors, religious workers, the sick, and the elderly.”

On Saturday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement that “dozens of people who were in the National Penitentiary System are returning to their homes and families.”

It wasn’t immediately clear who was freed and under what conditions. Nicaragua’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government has been carrying out an ongoing crackdown since mass social protests in 2018, that were violently repressed.

Nicaragua’s government has imprisoned adversaries, religious leaders, journalists and more, then exiled them, stripping hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions. Since 2018, it has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations, largely religious, and forced thousands to flee the country. Nicaragua’s government often accused critics and opponents of plotting against the government.

In recent years, the government has released hundreds of imprisoned political opponents, critics and activists. It stripped them of Nicaraguan citizenship and sent them to other countries like the U.S. and Guatemala. Observers have called it an effort to wash its hands of its opposition and offset international human rights criticism. Many of those Nicaraguans were forced into a situation of "statelessness."

Saturday on X, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs again slammed Nicaragua’s government. “Nicaraguans voted for a president in 2006, not for an illegitimate lifelong dynasty,” it said. “Rewriting the Constitution and crushing dissent will not erase the Nicaraguans’ aspirations to live free from tyranny.”

Danny Ramírez-Ayérdiz, executive-secretary of the Nicaraguan human rights organization CADILH, said he had mixed feelings about the releases announced Saturday.

“On the one hand, I’m glad. All political prisoners suffer some form of torture. But on the other hand, I know these people will continue to be harassed, surveilled and monitored by the police, and so will their families.”

Ramírez-Ayérdiz said the liberation of the prisoners is a response to pressure exerted by the United States. “There is surely a great deal of fear within the regime that the U.S. might completely dismantle it,” he said.

FILE - Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega waves after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro for a third term at the National Assembly in Caracas, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)