The All Blacks have had to fight back from an 18-point deficit to beat the Lions 41-35 in their final club game on their Greatest Rivalry tour.
The visitors’ grit and determination to come back at Ellis Park in Johannesburg this morning - the scene of their superb Test win over the Springboks at the weekend - and make it a clean sweep of club match victories will please coach Dave Rennie, but some of the decision making from his men will not.
The hole they found themselves in was not entirely of their own making – the Lions played with ambition and intelligence to put the All Blacks on the back foot time and again – but Rennie’s men must take responsibility for not following the fundamentals of the game.
It was frantic at times, with halfback Noah Hotham having a very poor start, with too many 50-50 passes thrown and not enough intelligent kicking.
The good news for the All Blacks is they found a way, although it took them 62 minutes to take the lead.
Flanker Ethan Blackadder helped them there with his second try of the match – a fitting reward for an outstanding performance. He was easily the best on the park for the All Blacks.
"It's hard to get away from Ethan - jeez he was phenomenal, he's got such a big engine," Rennie told Sky Sport aftwards.
Centre Rieko Ioane’s two second-half tries were hugely important too and his pace and power was too much at times for a tiring Lions.
Wing Emoni Narawa also scored a double – his second on the stroke of fulltime the result of another powerful scrum by his team's pack. That set piece was also increasingly influential for the All Blacks who gained mileage with their driving maul too.
First-five Richie Mo’unga got through 80 minutes on his return and showed some nice touches on attack and scrambled well on defence, with second-five Timoci Tavatavanawai powerful.
The replacement front row of Xavier Numia, Brad Slater and Saula Ma’u impressed with their scrummaging and there were echoes of the way the big boys helped the All Blacks to their Test win at the weekend about their work.
But some of the errors, particularly from his more experienced players, will disappoint Rennie as he continues preparations for the second Test at Cape Town on Sunday morning NZT.
“It was a really tough game,” skipper Patrick Tuipulotu said. “The Lions really brought it to us. They pressured us from the start and put us on the back foot… I’m happy we got there at the end.
“We got pushed to the limit and the Lions can be very proud of their effort.”
The All Blacks were quickly 14-0 down after eight minutes following Hotham’s kick out on the full which led to Nico Steyn’s try and the halfback’s intercepted pass from a lineout which led to Siba Mahashe’s.
The No.9 did redeem himself to a point with a try in reply after a Narawa break from an attacking ruck.
There was more sloppy stuff when Mo’unga kicked a penalty dead, but a flowing All Blacks attack featuring a breakout by Tavatavanawai and an offload by fullback Beauden Barrett finished by Narawa closed the gap.
The Lions were not done, with Kelly Mpeku powering over, but a Blackadder try following another flowing move by the All Blacks had the visitors in touch although behind 21-17 at halftime.
The Lions struck a double blow after halftime for their biggest lead of the match – 35-17 – as the All Blacks put themselves under pressure with more poor decision making
Rennie began using his bench in earnest here, with Peter Lakai making some important interventions, and it was time for Ioane to roll back the years with back-to-back tries, the second an intercept from 50m out.
The improved patience displayed by Rennie’s men helped and it was fitting that Blackadder, who showed more than most along with an incredible workrate, scored a sensational try after 62 minutes to allow the All Blacks to take the lead.
Two big scrums and Narawa’s second try sealed it. For the All Blacks, it is onwards and presumably upwards.
All Blacks 41 (Rieko Ioane 2, Ethan Blackadder 2, Emoni Narawa 2, Noah Hotham tries; Beauden Barrett con, Richie Mo’unga 2 cons)
Lions 35 (Nico Steyn, Siba Mahashe, Kelly Mpeku, Erich Cronje, Franke Horn tries; Chris Smith 5 cons)
Halftime: Lions 21-17
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