Warburton wants extra-time decider
Sam Warburton, the British and Irish Lions captain, has called for changes to ensure there is always an outright winner of future tours to avoid a repeat of the drawn series against the All Blacks.
Warburton revealed that he was preparing for extra-time to decide the third and final Test after the score was locked at 15-15 in one of the most frantic climaxes in the tourists’ history.
His leadership had proved critical to the Lions’ hopes of avoiding defeat in those dramatic moments following the award of a kickable penalty for the All Blacks in the 78th minute. Warburton’s request for referee Romain Poite to review Kieran Read’s air-borne collision with Liam Williams resulted in the penalty against Ken Owens for playing the ball in an offside position being downgraded to a scrum.
The Lions captain admitted he had no idea the game, and thus the series, would end with a draw for the first time since 1955.
“I was expecting to go again,” revealed Warburton. “I didn’t actually realise it was a drawn series. I was ready for 20 minutes of extra-time. I was trying to drink as many electrolytes as I could because I was cramping up, but then I realised everyone was shaking hands and I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a drawn series’.
“You never think it is going to go down to that situation so I never looked into what would happen. If I had to, I would probably have tossed a coin and gone for the win, with extra-time or golden point or something. I think it would have made for an amazing climax.”
The controversy over the downgrading of penalty against Owens continued to be the central theme of the post-match reflections in New Zealand, with Steve Hansen, the All Blacks coach, claiming that Poite would “not be feeling good” about the decision that included consultation with his two assistant referees and the television match official.
“Romain’s instinct was it was a penalty. Straight away, you see the young fella [Owens] who caught the ball, he was thinking, ‘S---, I shouldn’t be catching this’, so he chucked it away. And then they wanted to check if we hadn’t touched it. When it came back that we hadn’t, all of a sudden all these other opportunities were looked at. I think he just over-thought it. If he had gone with his instincts, he would have made the right decision. I bet he is not feeling good about that. He is a good man, Romain. He hasn’t done it deliberately.”
It was left to Owen Farrell to land the penalty to level the scores on Saturday, after his kick had dramatically clinched victory in the second Test in Wellington to keep the series alive.
Farrell played down the significance of his kicking, instead paying tribute to Elliot Daly’s 60-metre penalty just after half-time that brought the Lions to within three points after they had been outplayed in the first half, with New Zealand scoring tries from debutants Ngani Laumape and Jordie Barrett.
“It was a brilliant kick,” said Farrell. “Everybody backed him to hit it because we have seen him do it week in, week out at training.”
The Lions were left to rue the missed opportunities after Farrell had drawn them level at 12-12 when Jerome Kaino was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle on Alun Wyn Jones. Instead, the collapsed scrum by Kyle Sinckler allowed Beauden Barrett to edge the All Blacks in front again only for Farrell to strike back again.