The following article is an extract from 'The British & Irish Lions: The Official History 2025 Tour edition'.

2017

MATCHING THE ALL BLACKS

The final act of the Series was played in front of a 48,609 packed house. It was a tumultuous finale that attracted a massive global audience. The Lions had already lost twice at Eden Park earlier in the Tour and history was very much stacked against them given they had only won one Series in the past in New Zealand. This was their 12th Test match at the Auckland venue and they had only previously won once (1959) and drawn once (1971).

The All Blacks started at high tempo and played with more width than in previous games. It was end-to-end rugby as a lofted pass from Farrell was picked off by Beauden Barrett, who fed Laumape, who then went on a 40-metre sprint before being magnificently hauled down by Davies. After 14 minutes, Beauden Barrett hit a perfect kick-pass to his brother, Jordie, over on the right touchline in the Lions 22. In basketball style, he rose to tip the ball back infield ahead of Daly. It bounced into the eager grasp of Laumape, who opened the scoring with a try that Barrett converted. First blood to the All Blacks.

The game ebbed and flowed; Farrell replied with a penalty; the All Blacks pack shunted the Lions in a scrum; Kaino and Retallick hurled themselves forward; Davies made a clattering tackle; Warburton jackaled a turnover from which Farrell drilled his second penalty to make it 7-6.

The ferocity continued as Kaino received a yellow card for a swinging arm tackle that saw a damaged Jones replaced by Lawes. Davies maintained the aggressive blitz defence, and from a Farrell penalty the Lions went into the final 20 minutes with the scores level at 12-12. Barrett then attempted a break that was stopped short by a crunching Faletau tackle, but Sinckler collapsed the ensuing scrum and Barrett kicked the goal to put the All Blacks back in front. Again, the Lions responded with another crucial Farrell penalty, and at 15-15 there were three minutes to go.

From the controversial restart the Lions failed to execute a clean exit; Read appeared to be both offside and to have contacted Williams in the air illegally; Owens undoubtedly was standing in an offside position when he caught the knock-on from Williams. One moment the decision was with the All Blacks, the next the referee had changed his original decision and declared that the offside was accidental. Scrum not a penalty. Match drawn and the Series trophy was presented jointly to both captains.

Some will argue that the drawn Series was an opportunity missed, others that it was a magnificent achievement to match the world champions in their backyard. The Tour confirmed the world-class quality of a number of players, particularly Davies - as the outstanding centre on either team - Farrell, Sexton, Murray, O'Brien and Jones.

New stars emerged like Itoje, Watson, George and Furlong. Warburton captained with intelligence and calm authority, the coaching team achieved the daunting task of melding together units that competed toe-to-toe with the All Blacks. The leadership of Gatland and Spencer always gave the Tour focus and fully reflected their appreciation of the Lions tradition. Spencer managed the Tour with thorough professionalism; he handled the O'Brien citing incident in the second Test decisively and after two trips with the Lions to New Zealand can boast an enviable record of three wins, two draws and only two losses. Gatland even had the last laugh over the visceral politics of the extreme members of the New Zealand media as he cheerfully wore a clown's nose during his last press conference at Eden Park.

Some clown!