Itoje ‘a bit unsatisfied’ as Lions draw series

The British and Irish Lions are ready to “create history” at Eden Park on Saturday but know they will need to improve in every facet of the game to beat the All Blacks in the decisive third test, attack coach Rob Howley said on Friday.

In what was a remarkably similar chain of events to the quarterfinal between Australia and Scotland at Rugby World Cup 2015, Lions player Liam Williams appeared to knock the ball into replacement Ken Owens in an offside position and just as Craig Joubert had at Twickenham two years ago, Poite’s first instinct was to award a penalty to the All Blacks.

New Zealand, who had not lost at Eden Park since 1994, had a chance after Farrell’s late leveller to win the match and take the series.

New Zealand scored two tries to two penalties from Farrell in a breathless first half with the two backs making their first Test starts, Ngani Laumape and Jordie Barrett, both on the scoresheet for a 12-6 half-time lead. “At the same time it is never nice to be on the end of a draw”. It has been a brilliant series. If he had felt like it was accidental, play on and LB (Lienert-Brown) scores under the posts and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. They were very much hoping that we’d do well and that as a team and tour we’d embrace New Zealand.

“When you go through all the pressure and emotion of the week, it’s all geared toward winning”.

“I had been hitting them okay, so I was happy”, he added.

Pressed further, he said a little wearily: “I’m trying to do my best not to talk about this”.

“Your first one, you’re pretty nervous, pretty excited, and I don’t think that’s really changed to be honest”, Read told reporters on Friday. “All you do is try to stick to hopefully what you have done well before that”. It’s been a fantastic three-match series. I’m definitely finishing then, unless they get rid of me before then, but I’m not sure what’ll happen then.

But after the video referee reviewed the decision it was downgraded to an All Blacks scrum, from which they failed to take advantage. They did that without modern luxuries, and without the mass supportive army the 2017 Lions had at their backs, thanks to the ease of 21 century travel.

“We’ve been put together quite quickly and we’ve come down to the best nation in the world and played well”.

If the Lions had somehow found a way to lose in Wellington while playing against just 14 men for 55 minutes, they would only have had themselves to blame.

“If you’re good enough to get a drawn series, both teams will get the credit that comes from it”.

“And this group of players have shown unbelievable character, it’s been a tough tour”. I think they have to relax and be fresh and as fresh as they can be and whatever it is to be fresh is fine.

“The biggest thing for me is to do my bit and help the team and get the win”.

“We were written off from day one”, he said.

What other key battles do you see in this Test?