Lions beat All Blacks to level up series

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Owen Farrell slotted a 78th minute penalty to give the British and Irish Lions a 24-21 victory over 14-man New Zealand in the second test on Saturday to level up the series at 1-1 ahead of next week’s final clash in Auckland.

The All Blacks were a man down for 55 minutes after Sonny Bill Williams became only the third All Black, and the first since 1967, to be sent off in a test match when he was shown the red card for a shoulder charge on Lions winger Anthony Watson.

It was the first win for the Lions over the All Blacks since 1993 and the first defeat for the world champions on home soil in 48 tests going back to 2009.

All Blacks flyhalf Beauden Barrett kicked seven penalties but tries for Lions number eight Taulupe Faletau and scrumhalf Conor Murray helped level up the scores with 10 minutes to go, leaving Farrell to secure the victory with his fourth penalty.

“Credit to New Zealand, to play for so long with 14 men, they did extremely well,” Lions captain Sam Warburton said. “You have to score tries to beat these boys and we did that.”

The visitors had been criticized for their lack of physicality last week during the 30-15 first test loss and were far more aggressive on Saturday.

The introduction of Warburton allowed the visitors to attack the breakdown more consistently and shore up their fringe defense.

Despite having the advantage of the swirling northerly wind in the first half, the Lions turned down kickable penalties to put pressure on the All Blacks lineout defense.

With persistent rain showers sweeping across the ground, however, neither side was able to truly crack the either’s defense and the first half scoring was restricted to three penalties apiece to Barrett and Farrell.

The key moment came after 25 minutes, however, when Watson was being tackled by Waisake Naholo and Williams came in with a shoulder charge that made contact with the winger’s head.