BIG SAM WAR CRY: NOW FOR THE SERIES
GALVANISED: Gatland happens we will come back with some credibility, but I want to get the job done and bring the series home.
“We can’t stress how important the Lions is for players. It is the absolute pinnacle of our careers.
“It’s great that we managed to put that performance into the jersey and hopefully keep the Lions going for at least another four years.”
New Zealand failed to score a try for the first time since their 12-12 draw with Australia in August 2014.
Lions skipper Warburton admitted: “I didn’t realise we hadn’t conceded a try.
“That is an incredible achievement.”
Lions boss Warren Gatland had come under fire for his team selection.
But his decision to keep faith with lock Alun Wyn Jones and restore Warburton paid off.
Gatland said: “There’s no doubt the last couple of weeks in terms of criticism and personal attacks has been a little tough to take.
“But whoever has been doing that, they have no idea how much that’s galvanised us as a group.
“Our second rows were good and then Maro Itoje has given away a couple of
stupid penalties, which can be costly.
“Courtney Lawes came on and gave us good impact.
“I thought the 10-12 combination of Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell caused them lots of problems.
“There’s no doubt that without Sonny Bill it made it easier for us to cause problems and we went out of the back a little bit and broke behind them and created some difficulties.
“I thought that 10-12 combination went pretty well.
“I was disappointed with the accuracy of some of our kicking, particularly in the first half. That’s an area we need to work on.
“It was kind of one of those games, particularly in the first half, when it’s almost like you were better off playing without the ball because the team with the ball were tending to make mistakes.”