Replacement outside half Marty Banks kept his cool to slot a wide angled penalty five minutes from time to ensure his side followed in the footsteps of the Blues in lowering the Lions colours. Elliot Daly had the chance to win it for the tourists with a 57 metre penalty three minutes from time, but his kick just slipped under the cross bar.
“We didn’t nail a few big moment that were pretty important to us. We let them back into the game which is
disappointing,” admitted Lions head coach Warren Gatland.
“The heavy penalty count is a concern for us and there were a few scrum penalties that were disappointing. We went in at half time drawing, started well in the second half and then got to 22-13 – we needed to be smarter to finish things off.
“We always said how tough it was going to be coming to New Zealand playing against Super Rugby teams, but we are learning about the importance of being in every moment and playing for the full 80 minutes. It means we are going to go into the tests battle hardened.”
The Highlanders took the game to the Lions from the start under their closed roof at the Forsyth Barr Stadium and Lima Sopoaga gave them a fourth minute lead with a penalty. Dan Biggar replied 12 minutes later after both Tommy Seymour and Rhys Webb were stopped on the line, but it was the home side who grabbed the opening try.
All Blacks wing Waisake Naholo was a handful all night for the Lions as he warmed up for the test series and he crashed through Courtney Lawes to score on 26 minutes. Lawes left the field and Sopoaga made it 10-3 to the Highlanders with the simple conversion.
The Lions hit back to level the scores on the half-hour mark when CJ Stander and Biggar created space for Jonathan Joseph to show off his pace and speed over from 25 metres. Biggar added the extras and it was anyone’s game moving into the second half.
There was a great start to the second half for the Lions when Seymour leapt high to win a kick pass on his 10 metre line and race to the line for a try that Biggar couldn’t convert from wide out. Sopoaga cut the gap to two points with another penalty, but then the captain, Warburton, powered over at the posts for a try off ninth phase possession and Biggar kicked the conversion to make it 22-13 with 26 minutes to play.
Rhys Webb was forced off the field for the final quarter with an injury and the Highlanders came on strong as the game went down to the wire. Hooker Liam Coltman picked up a driving line-out try that was converted by Banks to make it a two point game and then Biggar went off for an HIA to give Owen Farrell a kick for goal with his first action coming onto the pitch.
He missed the mark from 40 metres and that gave the Highlanders the chance to strike. They worked their way into the Lions 22 and won a scrum penalty wide out on the right. Up stepped Banks and over went a kick he will never forget.
Daly then had a late chance to become the Lions hero, but after Aussie referee Angus Gardner forced him to take his kick back a metre he put his 57 metre shot for glory just under the cross bar. The Lions had one final penalty, which they kicked to the home 22, but they couldn’t conjure up the score they needed to win the match.
“Discipline let us down and we have got to find a way to keep the penalties down to single figures. We gave away too much possession at the break down and we turned over too much ball on attack,” admitted Warburton.
“We scored a couple of tries and when we were direct we looked pretty good. It was a tight game, a proper game of chess, but we’ve got to learn how to come away from these matches with a win.”
