Lions and All Blacks draw thrilling final Test and series

Those with slightly mixed emotions at the end of a drawn series should rewind to the beginning. Had the British & Irish Lions been offered this outcome in May, they would have bitten off your hand somewhere near the elbow. Finishing on level terms with the double world champions on the planet’s most hostile rugby terrain, with scant preparation time and a ridiculously tough schedule, will increasingly feel like a moral victory the longer they reflect on it.

If, ultimately, they could not quite emulate the achievement of their 1971 predecessors, they will be remembered as a team who overcame considerable odds and earned respect from their hosts. Perhaps even more significantly, the image of rugby worldwide has also been enhanced. It might have been a little odd to see the respective captains, Sam Warburton and Kieran Read, with one hand apiece on the trophy but not even a million flying champagne corks could have bettered the wonderful sporting image of their teams happily posing for a shared photo afterwards.

Sport is not always about neat, tidy endings and, in a strange sort of way, the first drawn Lions series since 1955 underlines again how gloriously different the touring side are. Several players were even unsure when the final whistle sounded whether extra time awaited them; happily for their nearest and dearest there was none. For the whole shooting match to have come down to a sudden-death goal-kicking competition or a further 20 minutes of rugby at the end of such a demanding series would have been deeply unfair on the losers and felt unnecessarily contrived.

It is impossible, nevertheless, not to wonder what would have unfolded had either side been behind by three points rather than locked together when the referee, Romain Poite, made the 78th-minute decision that could easily lead to a major revision of rugby’s labyrinthine law book. Ken Owens will certainly never forget the nightmarish moment when it seemed he might have cost the Lions the series, the hooker having instinctively made contact with the ball in an offside position after it bounced to him off his leaping Scarlets’ team-mate Liam Williams.

Poite whistled for the penalty and, for all Beauden Barrett’s goal-kicking inconsistency, the cruellest of finales loomed. Until, that is, it was decided to review the footage for possible foul play moments earlier, giving the officials a timely excuse to make absolutely sure justice was being served. Laws 11.6 and 11.7 are slightly contradictory but, ultimately, Poite and friends decided Owens’s intervention had been accidental and awarded the All Blacks only a scrum.

Would he have made the same call had it occurred in the opening minute? Possibly not. But ever since the controversial Scotland-Australia quarter-final at the 2015 World Cup, where a similar incident decided the game, rugby has been seeking to avoid matches being settled by referees rather than players. No one wants them to hinge on piffling technicalities, though New Zealand supporters might not see it that way on Sunday morning.

Neither side will be entirely satisfied, either, with the number of handling errors and mistakes under pressure but the game’s shuddering physicality played no small part. The visitors defended outstandingly once more, with Maro Itoje, Warburton and Alun Wyn Jones putting in prodigious efforts. The first half alone was worth the admission money with play sweeping one way, then the other.

View image in fullscreen

On another day the Lions could have been 10-0 down, with Barrett missing a straightforward penalty and Julian Savea letting slip a chance to score wide on the left. The Lions, however, had occasional joy at the breakdown and managed to ease the early pressure. Had they scored on the right when Owen Farrell, who had already had a couple of shaky moments, saw a potential scoring pass to Anthony Watson intercepted, the contest might have turned out very differently. Instead up the other end surged Beauden Barrett and Ngani Laumape and it was the All Blacks who ended up scoring the first points.

The Lions have been wary all series of Beauden Barrett’s cross-field kicking but stopping it is a different matter. Like a tennis pro reaching back for an overhead smash, his highly talented younger brother Jordie clawed the ball back into play and Laumape collected the loose ball to mark his first Test start with a try. The older Barrett’s touchline conversion further compounded the Lions’ pain.

It was to the Lions’ vast credit that they declined to buckle, two Farrell penalties rewarding the tireless work of his forwards. With less than four minutes left in the first half, however, a great offload from Laumape gave Anton Lienert-Brown the time and space to find the highly promising Jordie Barrett, the big full-back diving over unopposed for the kind of score he and his brothers dreamed about as kids on the family’s dairy farm in Taranaki.

New Zealand had won 57 of their previous 58 games at their Eden Park citadel when leading at half-time, losing only to England in 1973. The Lions badly needed some early encouragement and it arrived in the form of a monster 53-metre penalty from Elliot Daly which cut the deficit to 12-9. The 50th-minute yellow card for Jerome Kaino for a dangerous high tackle on a clearly dazed Jones offered the visitors further hope but a lack of accuracy at two key lineouts cost them crucial momentum.

While Farrell’s two final-quarter penalties, each to level the scores, offered up a glimpse of nirvana, it is hard to feel too robbed when you have led your opponents for just three minutes in the entire series. No one, even so, should underestimate what Warburton’s Lions have achieved over these past six compelling weeks.

New Zealand J Barrett; Dagg, Lienert-Brown, Laumape (Fekitoa 67), J Savea (Cruden 73); B Barrett, Smith (Perenara 73); Moody (Crockett 58) Taylor (Harris 73), O Franks (Faumuina 58), Retallick, S Whitelock (S Barrett 78), Kaino, Cane (A Savea 60), K Read (capt). Sin-bin Kaino 50. Tries Laumape, J Barrett. Con B Barrett. Pen B Barrett.

British & Irish Lions Williams; Watson (Nowell 73), Davies, Farrell, Daly; Sexton (Te’o 49-53, 73), Murray (Webb 70); M Vunipola (McGrath 60), George (Owens 70), Furlong (Sinckler 60), AW Jones (Lawes 50), Itoje, S Warburton (capt; AW Jones 67-73), O’Brien (Stander ht), Faletau. Pens Farrell 4, Daly.

Referee Romain Poite (Fr). Attendance 48,906. Match rating 9/10.