MARK Tyson is hoping results match the experience of being on tour this time around while he is out in Fiji with the BARLA Lions.

The Askam centre was part of the amateur Great Britain team which toured South Africa three years ago, but they were beaten in their Test match with the host nation.

Tyson helped the Lions get this year's tour off to the perfect start with two tries in their 22-20 victory over West Fiji and is aiming to ensure that continues in the remaining games.

"This is my second tour," said Tyson. "I went to South Africa in 2015 which was good; like here, there was a great set of lads and I really enjoyed it.

"But we didn't get the result in the Test match in South Africa, so hopefully, we can do the job over here."

Despite being forced off the field in the match against West Fiji, Tyson is due to play in tomorrow's encounter with the Australian Combined Affiliated States side.

The Mail: The BARLA Lions team were guests of honour in the village of Saunaka during their tour of FijiThe BARLA Lions team were guests of honour in the village of Saunaka during their tour of Fiji

Tyson and clubmate Tom Hopkins, who was on the bench for the opener along with Millom's Lee Postlethwaite and Barrow Island's Sam Jones, both have extra motivation to do well on the tour after Askam missed out on promotion from National Conference League Division Two in 2018.

"It was a bit disappointing, really," said Tyson, who missed the side's play-off semi-final due to the season over-running and clashing with his wedding. "We were really, really good at home but struggled to get a strong team on the field to go away.

"We only ended up picking up two or three away wins all season. We made the play-offs again but were missing players in the semi-final and it wasn't to be again.

"It worked out that the season got extended by two weeks. For the semi-final we were missing five or six lads who were all away at my wedding.

"The newly-wed had originally booked everything after the season was due to finish. "Originally we would have been alright, but it was one of those things, I suppose."

Ahead of today's match, the Lions were guests of honour in the village of Saunaka, where they were given a tour by the chief.

They were shown an area called Rochdale, dedicated to Saunaka native Apisai Toga, who played for Rochdale Hornets in the 1960s, and shown his grave, as well as visiting school children.