Ireland's Grand Slam skipper scored one of the Lions' 10 tries in a crushing 74-10 victory over the Golden Lions at Ellis Park.

Not since a 97-3 success against South-West Districts in 1974 had the Lions swept aside South African opposition with such contemptuous ease.

And O'Driscoll already looks to have found his centre partner for the first Test against South Africa in Durban on June 20.

Wales midfield powerhouse Jamie Roberts scored two tries, hitting it off with O'Driscoll to such an extent that they created chance after chance.

And how their team-mates prospered, with impressive wings Tommy Bowe and Ugo Monye also claiming try doubles, while flanker Tom Croft, fly-half James Hook and back-row forward Stephen Ferris joined O'Driscoll in touching down.

Stephen Jones compounded the Golden Lions' misery by kicking 18 points, with Hook slotting three late conversions.

"Hopefully, this is the start of things to come," said O'Driscoll. "We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but there is a huge amount of positivity.

"If you score 70 points against a Super 14 team, then someone has got to take some notice of it.

"We didn't concede a point in the second half. We could have taken our foot off the gas, but we were adamant at half-time we were going to keep them scoreless."