Lions must still finish the job – Warburton
WELLINGTON: Captain Sam Warburton said yesterday’s second Test win over the All Blacks was far from mission accomplished for the British and Irish Lions and warned his players they would need to raise their game again to finish the job next week.
The Lions levelled the three-match series at 1-1 with a gripping 24-21 victory over a New Zealand side reduced to 14 men for 55 minutes after centre Sonny Bill Williams was shown a red card for a shoulder charge to the head.
The tourists struggled to make the extra man pay, however, and took the lead over the world champions for the first time in the match in the 78th minute when Owen Farrell kicked the winning penalty.
“Credit to New Zealand, to play for so long with 14 men, they did extremely well,” said the Welsh flanker, who was recalled to the starting line-up for the Wellington Test.
“We just gotta remember next week, we’re more likely to be playing XV. It’s gonna be a big step-up next week.”
It was a first defeat for the All Blacks on home soil in 48 Tests going back eight years and a first victory for the Lions over New Zealand since 1993. It also kept alive their hopes of a first series triumph in New Zealand since 1971.
“It’s only half a job done, one apiece now,” Warburton added. “It’s great. We’ve got it to 1-1, we want to take it to a decider at Eden Park. There’s still plenty to work on, we gave away far too many penalties in the second half. We’ve got to up it again next week.”
Coach Warren Gatland said the British and Irish Lions would not get carried away.
“It’s a win for us and it keeps the series alive,” he said. “Obviously the Sonny Bill Williams red card was a factor but with the number of penalties we gave away we’re not getting too carried away.
“We showed improvements in certain areas, the biggest difference was our physicality in terms of stopping their go-forward and momentum.”
They also scored two tries, however, and a steely defensive display prevented the All Blacks from notching up a fivepointer in a Test for the first time in three years.
Given they will have to head back to Eden Park next week to try once again to storm New Zealand’s rugby citadel, it was the mental fortitude the team showed to get over the line that he thought might ultimately be most telling.
“At 18-9 down, we had to show courage and some character and there was a huge amount of that. We got ourselves out of a hole and got in front,” he said. “We showed some great character in coming back and the way we controlled that last 10 minutes was especially significant.” – Reu-