British & Irish Lions rugby coach hails his kickers as 'best of the best'

British & Irish Lions assistant coach Neil Jenkins labelled his kickers as the "best of the best" after back-up flyhalf Owen Farrell followed Leigh Halfpenny's example by producing another impressive display with the boot on their tour of Australia.

Englishman Farrell improved his record to 18 successes from 19 attempts by slotting three kicks as the Lions dismantled the Melbourne Rebels 35-0 on Tuesday in their final warm-up ahead of the second test against the Wallabies on Saturday.

Halfpenny has nailed 27 from 29 on tour and contributed 13 points as the Lions beat the Wallabies 23-21 in the first test last Saturday to put them in pole position to claim a first series win since 1997.

"The importance of goalkicking was seen [last Saturday] and generally [the result] does come down to goalkicking," Lions kicking coach Jenkins said.

"We are very lucky to have the kickers we have, they are the best of the best and they just need to keep doing what they've been doing. Things have been going well, touch wood, but we need to keep it going for Saturday," the former Wales flyhalf added.

Jenkins, who struck five penalties for the Lions in the second test against South Africa to seal the series in 1997, said he had warned his kickers about cleaning their boots before efforts to avoid a similar fate to Australia's Kurtley Beale, who fluffed a late attempt in the first test in Brisbane. "The pitch was a bit soft under foot and we'd had rain the day before as well," he said of the Lang Park surface. "I'd always encourage our boys to wear as long studs as possible. I encourage them to clean their boots as often as possible as well."