A British & Irish Lions Tour to New Zealand is always a special occasion, and on Saturday we were treated to a finale the series deserved.
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With the Test series level at 1-1 heading into the finale, the odds were stacked against Warren Gatland’s men as they bid to become the first team since 1994 to beat the All Blacks at Eden Park in Auckland. Owen Farrell’s late penalty secured a 15-15 draw for the Lions, and ensured the series finished level for only the second time in Lions history.
Here we take a look at some of the reactions from pundits and former players:
First up is three-time Lions centre Jeremy Guscott, who was in no doubt as to the quality on show across the series in
his BBC column.
In his
Telegraph column
Sir Ian McGeechan admits that, although he was frustrated no side claimed victory, a draw was the right result between two evenly-matched sides.
New Zealand have won the last two Rugby World Cups and are the world number one ranked Test side, but former All Blacks coach Graham Henry hailed the way the Lions contained their attacking game.
Tony Ward was part of the Lions squad that toured South Africa in 1980, in the
Irish Independent
he picked out a trio of performers in Sam Warburton, Jonathan Davies and Maro Itoje, as key figures in the drawn series.
Warburton himself spoke after the game about the moment he and Kieran Read lifted the trophy. He told
Wales Online
about the discussions between the captains at the trophy presentation.
Donal Lenihan toured with the Lions as both a player and then a team manager, in his
Irish Examiner
column he explained that being at Eden Park was up there with anything he had experienced with the Lions.
Finally Nick Evans picked out Sean O’Brien’s wonder try in the first Test as the key moment in the series, even though it came in the only Lions Test defeat.
And just to show how much the Lions caught the imagination around the rugby world, French rugby newspaper the
Midi Olympique
even had a front page showing Sam Warburton and Kieran Read with the headline ‘Merci messieurs’ – Thank you gentlemen!
