New Zealand vs British and Irish Lions: Five things we learned as Lions secure drawn series in thriller

The British and Irish Lions secured a draw with New Zealand to tie the series after a thriller at Eden Park.

The All Blacks scored the tries - two through Ngani Laumape and Jordi Barrett but the tourists, through the boot of Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly earned a well-deserved draw to end a pulsating series.

Here's what we learned:

New Zealand started the strongest of any of the three Tests of the tour but the errors from last week were still there. Beauden Barrett’s kicking was what cost the hosts the second Test, and the series with a game to go in Wellington.

His mis-kicking continued with an early penalty miss from under the posts sailing wide, before the returning Julian Savea dropped the ball with the try-line begging. Ngani Laumape was guilty of knocking the ball on twice as he looked to race through the Lions defence, which kept the visitors in touch – just.

Owen Farrell, arguably the Lions’ best player going into the tour, saved his worst performance for the third Test. First, he wasted a turnover with a poorly timed kick, before he wasted an attack by overshooting his kick for it to go out on the full.

However, the ultimate error came 15 minutes into the first half when the Lions had a real chance to get the first score of the game, all he needed to do was find his man. But his pass was easily plucked out of the air by Beauden Barrett and the All Blacks raced away and the error was eventually punished by Laumape in the corner. He then showed a spot of quick thinking to tap and run while the hosts were huddled together but his pass to Anthony Watson was atrocious and the Lions only managed to make five metres.

But as he so often has he stood up to be counted when it mattered, knocking over the late penalty to secure the draw.

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All eyes were on Beauden and how he would respond to his horror show with the boot last week and while his kicking from the tee wasn’t great, his kicking from hand was phenomenal. He intercepted Farrell’s pass and produced three mesmirising cross-field kicks to unstick the Lions.

However, it was his brother, Jordie, who stole the show. His touch down to Laumape to score the opening try was fantastic given the height he needed to get to to even have a chance of getting his hands on it. He also finished off the Lions’ second try expertly, latching on to a great pass from his brother after top work by Brodie Retallick and Laumape to touch down. All of this on only his first start for the All Blacks.

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It’s nothing in the grand scale of the tour but, Elliot Daly will take home a bit of Lions history with him when he arrives back in England next week. His mammoth penalty kick just after half-time from inside his own half brought the Lions to within three points of the All Blacks, perhaps undeservedly so.

But the three points he contributed meant that he became the first player to score both for and against the Lions. His score against the Lions came back in 2013 in the tourists’ first game in Hong Kong on the way to Australia while playing for the Barbarians. There’s a good little pub fact for you.

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It has been the theme of the tour for the Lions and when the heat was on, the Lions were let down by it once again. With the final 15 minutes of the tour remaining, the scores were level at 12-12 with the Lions turning over inside their 22 to earn a defensive scrum, with Taulupe Faletau receiving the pats on the back.

But the scrum collapsed on Kyle Sinckler’s side, leaving Barrett to kick simply from under the posts to give the All Blacks the lead. Then came Jamie George’s not-straight lineout and Liam Williams’ knock-on inside his own 22. Up until that point the Lions were keeping true to their promise that they had ironed out the mistakes. But it was that costly last 15 minutes which ultimately cost them the chance at winning the series as proud as they no doubt should be with a draw.