All Blacks and Lions share spoils in drawn series

New Zealand and British and Irish Lions could not be separated as they played out a 15-15 draw in their series decider in Auckland on Saturday.

In a pulsating contest, in which the result was in the balance until the end, there was controversy in the game's closing stages when referee Romain Poite ruled that Lions replacement hooker Ken Owens had played the ball from an accidental offside position.

If the truth be told, this was not a vintage display from the All Blacks as their performance was littered with several unforced errors and although they outscored their tourists by two tries to none, the Lions deserve credit for stifling the world champions.

New Zealand led 12-6 at half-time thanks to tries from Ngani Laumape and Jordie Barrett and the Lions' only points of the half came courtesy of two Owen Farrell penalties.

With this being the biggest match of most of these players' careers, there was nerves aplenty, especially during the opening exchanges with All Blacks pivot Beauden Barrett missing a routine shot at goal in the second minute.

Two minutes later Jordie Barrett gathered a pass from his brother Beauden inside the Lions' 22 and offloaded to Julian Savea who knocked on with the try-line at his mercy.

The Lions were slowly getting to the match, however, and were soon camped close to the All Blacks' try-line after taking the ball through several phases.

Maro Itoje, Sean O'Brien and Mako Vunipola were prominent with ball in hand during that passage of play but it all came to nothing as Beauden Barrett intercepted a pass from Johnny Sexton inside his 22.

Liam Williams did well to haul in Barrett before he could showcase his electrifying speed but he did well to free his arms and offload to Laumape who set off towards the visitors' try-line but he was chased down by Jonathan Davies inside the Lions' 22.

The All Blacks eventually opened the scoring in the 15th minute and it came straight out of the Hurricanes playbook with the Barrett brothers combining to set Laumape up for the opening try.

This, after Beauden delivered a crossfield kick inside the Lions' 22 and although Jordie could not control the kick, he did well to knock it infield for the on-rushing Laumape, who dotted down in the right-hand corner.

The older Barrett did well to add the extras from close to the touchline before Farrell opened the tourists' account five minutes later from the kicking tee after the All Blacks strayed offside on defence.

The next 10 minutes was an attritional affair with the sides trying to gain the ascendancy but both teams committed a mistakes on attack.

The Lions eventually reduced the deficit to a point when Farrell landed a penalty after Anton Lienert-Brown strayed offside on defence.

The All Blacks extended their lead in style, four minutes before the interval, when Laumape offloaded brilliantly to Lienert-Brown who got a pass out to Jordie Barrett.  The 20-year-old crossed for a deserved try and although his brother failed to convert, the All Blacks had their tails up at half-time.

Two minutes after the restart, Elliot Daly left his stamp on the match when he landed a monster penalty from 51 metres out after Kieran Read had taken Williams out off the ball.

Shortly afterwards, the All Blacks were awarded a penalty and Beauden Barrett put the ball out on the tourists' five-metre line.  From there they set up a lineout drive before the ball was taken wide to Savea, who was in the clear, but the final pass from Jordie Barrett went forward.

Five minutes later, the All Blacks suffered a setback when referee Poite issued a yellow card to Jerome Kaino for a swinging arm tackle to the face of Alun Wyn Jones.

The world champions did well to keep the Lions at bay during Kaino's spell on the sidelines but just before his return, Farrell slotted his third penalty, after Brodie Retallick was penalised for a high tackle on Courtney Lawes, which meant the score was deadlocked at 12-12 by the hour-mark.

The final quarter was a strategic battle with both sides introducing players off the bench in a bid to clinch the result although Lions replacement Kyle Sinckler conceded a scrum penalty in the 68th minute and Barrett added the resulting penalty to give his side the lead again.

The Lions did not take that lying down and drew level when Farrell succeeded with a penalty from just inside his half after Wyatt Crockett infringed at a ruck.

The All Blacks thought they had a chance to secure victory when Poite initially awarded a penalty for Owens' infringement at the death.  Poite changed his decision after watching television replays, however, although there will be lots of debate on whether he made the right call in the end.

The match and series were subsequently drawn, bringing to an end a superb tour that will live long in the memory.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Laumape, J Barrett
Con:  B Barrett
Pen:  B Barrett
Yellow Card:  Kaino

For British & Irish Lions:
Pens:  Farrell 4, Daly

New Zealand:  15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Nathan Harris, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Malakai Fekitoa

British & Irish Lions:  15 Liam Williams, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Sam Warburton (c), 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Ken Owens, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 CJ Stander, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Ben Te'o, 23 Jack Nowell

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Lions fight back in Wellington

The British and Irish Lions levelled the series at one apiece with a 24-21 victory over the All Blacks at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday.

Tries from Taulupe Faletau and Conor Murray as well as 14 points from Owen Farrell's boot proved too much for the All Blacks who scored through seven penalties from Beauden Barrett.

The last time the All Blacks went try-less in a game was in a 12-12 draw against Australia in Sydney back in August 2014.

This levels the series at 1-1 with the third Test to take place at Eden Park now set up as a mouth-watering decider.

As expected, it was an extremely physical and bruising encounter with the regular exchange of handbags and off-the-ball scuffles.

The wet slippery conditions made handling difficult and resulted in a stop-start game where both sides struggled for continuity on attack.

Lions coach Warren Gatland would not have been happy with his side's indiscipline as they conceded far too many penalties and made too many silly errors, especially since they enjoyed numerical advantage for three quarters of the game after Sonny Bill Williams' red card.

However, Gatland's men came through and won the game although they were almost left kicking themselves having dominated the possession and territory stakes.

The first scoring opportunity went astray as Barrett's penalty hit the post but he made no mistake with his second attempt on the 20-minute mark to give the All Blacks the lead after the Lions were guilty of going offside.

However, Farrell levelled matters with an excellent kick from out wide on the left touchline after the All Blacks this time were penalised for offside.

But in an incredible twist, Williams was given a red card for a no-arms shoulder charge to the face of Anthony Watson in the 25th minute.  Ngani Laumape came on for Jerome Kaino as the All Blacks' coaching staff decided to go one short in the scrum.

Barrett and Farrell exchanged two further penalties apiece as the sides went into the interval drawn at 9-9.

The Lions' poor discipline continued after the break.  The All Blacks profited off this with two more Barrett penalties before Mako Vunipola was yellow-carded for a no-arms clear-out at the ruck, not the first time Vunipola was guilty of using no arms in the tackle.  Maro Itoje was himself lucky not to escape with sanction of for also being a repeat offender.

Barrett added another penalty with a quarter of the game to go giving the All Blacks a nine point buffer at 18-9 which meant the Lions needed to score more than a converted try.

The Lions finally scored with a sweeping team move to bring the deficit to back four.  After Watson showed good pace to make a break down the right wing on the overlap, the ball was swept out to the left wing by the Lions where Faletau collected before bumping off Israel Dagg to finish in the corner.  It was a powerful finish from Faletau when he looked odds-on to be pushed out into touch.

Barrett restored the lead to seven with his seventh penalty at 21-14 with yet another penalty.  However, the Lions hit back with a converted try.  Jamie George made the line break before being brought down five metres out from the All Blacks' try-line and from the ruck Murray's excellent sniping break ensured he dotted down.

With the scores levelled at 21-21, Farrell showed composure and big-match temperament under pressure to slot the match-winning penalty and send the large Lions' travelling support into rapturous celebrations.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Pens:  Barrett 7
Red Card:  Williams

For British and Irish Lions:
Tries:  Faletau, Murray
Con:  Farrell
Pens:  Farrell 4
Yellow Card:  Vunipola

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Nathan Harris, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Ngani Laumape

British & Irish Lions:  15 Liam Williams, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Sam Warburton (c), 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Ken Owens, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 CJ Stander, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Ben Te’o, 23 Jack Nowell

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees:  Romain Poite (France), Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)