SAVAGE SCRUM
The first test was finely balanced after 50 minutes. The All Blacks led 13-8 and had maybe just started to take a little bit of control through the brutality and excellence of their tight five.
They were beginning to build their momentum and look for that killer punch, which would give them scoreboard ascendancy and put all the pressure on the Lions. It came on 54 minutes when they had a scrum 10 metres inside the Lions half, in the middle of the field.
The All Blacks put an initial shove on and the Lions flinched but held. The ball could have been released then, but no, captain Kieran Read held it in and called for a second wave. And it came. The Lions buckled, went backwards and up, and with the penalty secure, the All Blacks drove harder.
Somehow Read kept control of the ball, then he miraculously gathered it and flipped a pass to Aaron Smith who worked the ball left until Rieko Ioane scored in the corner.
“It was from Mars,” Smith said of that pass. “I was happy, we knew with a midfield scrum their loosies might come off and there was a chance for us to [put pressure on]. They [forwards] said to me before the scrum, 'Nuggy, leave it in if it's going good'. I was happy we got a penalty – that's test match rugby – build and get three points, try to do what they like to do, but Reado's pass... I think it was a reaction and catch.”