Great Britain 52, New Zealand A 24: Bulls prop Paul Anderson came off the bench at half-time to inspire a vastly improved second-half Great Britain effort in last night's 52-24 pre-Ashes hit-out against New Zealand A at Headingley.

Anderson scored with his first touch a minute into the half when he backed up a fine break out of dummy-half by Terry Newton.

The try drew a line under an ordinary first-half effort that saw the Lions leading by 24-12 at the break. With Anderson's appearance the hosts at last began to show the sort of cohesion that will be needed to challenge the Kangaroos in Wigan next Saturday.

With his next touch, the burly front-rower burst through three tacklers from the kick-off in a 35-metre surge. But Sean Long forced the pass and debutant Stuart Reardon was forced to make a fine covering tackle from the resulting intercept.

Anderson continued to be heavily involved and it was his deft pass after drawing two tacklers that allowed Kevin Sinfield to stroll over unopposed for his second try in the 48th minute.

The Bulls impact specialist would have been a dead cert for man of the match had he been given a chance to play more than the final 40 minutes - the award went to Kiwi full back Lusi Sione, who scored a memorable hat-trick against the big boys from the professional game.

Great Britain assistant coach Brian Noble was full of praise for Anderson.

"He changed the game. He gave us a lot of impetus when he came of the bench.

He was caged for 40 minutes so he likes to get out there and he did really well. I thought all our boys did really well," said Noble. Kris Radlinski - who led Britain in the absence of Andy Farrell and Paul Sculthorpe - matched his opposite number by scoring three of his side's eight tries.

Ryan Hudson and Gareth Ellis both marked their debuts with first-half touchdowns, but another newcomer, Warrington prop Paul Wood, will be struggling to make the first Test after tearing his triceps muscle.

Star forward Adrian Morley, making a return to his old Leeds stamping ground after a three-year absence, came off after 29 minutes with a corked thigh. The injury is not expected to keep him out of the first Test.

The Lions tested several combinations throughout the match, the most interesting of which saw Paul Deacon and Sean Long rotating in the halves after Sinfield moved to the back of the scrum.

The move had mixed results, with Sione running in his second try only seconds after Deacon's appearance. However, the pair did combine well in a wrap-around move to set up Sinfield's first try.