Haskell leads the praise after Saints star Lawes shines in Lions win

Lawes was at the heart of the action for Warren Gatland's side as they secured a superb 22-17 first Test win against South Africa in Cape Town.

Dan Biggar also played his part, starting at 10 for the Lions and kicking four penalties as well as a conversion.

But it was Lawes who received many of the post-match plaudits, with an outpouring of appreciation for his performance.

Haskell was briefly a team-mate of Lawes at Saints.

And the now retired back row forward wrote: "How good was @Courtney_Lawes he is so, so good either side of the ball."

Even Piers Morgan was impressed with Lawes, tweeting: "Tremendous win by the Lions. This guy was absolutely IMMENSE. @Courtney_Lawes."

And Lions boss Gatland was understandably delighted with Lawes and lock Maro Itoje, saying in his post-match interview: "Both of them were outstanding.

"Courtney Lawes carried exceptionally well, he was strong. I thought Maro was immense as well.

"Both of them had outstanding games and that was key for us really."