What happened in Wellington this past Saturday will go down as one of the greatest Lions victories of all time.
The pulsating match was littered with ill-discipline, it reminded me of the time I was a boy, playing high school rugby.
Yes people, against all odds the Lions delivered when it mattered most they beat the seemingly unstoppable All Blacks to set up the grand finale we all wanted.
With the victory on Saturday the Lions have managed to wash away some of the pain they suffered back 2005 when they were whitewashed.
There was little hope of a Lions victory, but when the men in red stepped out onto the field, from the first whistle they had nothing but victory in their sights.
The All Blacks were reduced to 14 men in the early stages of the match when Sonny Bill Williams (SBW) was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Lions winger, Anthony Watson.
It would have been interesting to see the final result had SBW stayed on the field, but we will never know. The All Blacks did struggle towards the closing stages, but still fought like world champs for the victory.
You’d think that with the man advantage the lions would close the game out comfortably, but that was not the case as the All Blacks once again reminded us of why they are considered the Mount Everest of world rugby.
They lead for nearly the entire game with 14 men.
The Lions eventually ran out 21-24 victors, all of the 21 points scored by the All Black came off the boot of Beauden Barrett. They were not even able to cross the tryline.
The Lions managed to score two tries after some wonderful passing allowed Taulupe Faletau to cross over first after which Irish scrumhalf Conor Murray sold a dummy and crossed over for the Lions second.
The victory came late though, the Lions had to wait until the 77th minute to take the lead for the first time and hung on to it after English pivot Owen Farrell’s decisive penalty kick.
The Lions will have hope that they can claim a first series win in New Zealand since 1971, but you would have to believe that with that victory on Saturday the Lions have so how poked a sleeping bear. They can expect the All Blacks to come out guns blazing for 80 minutes.
New Zealand will go back to the drawing board and look at where they went wrong. They had a impressive game with 14 men, defended the Spartans but could not break down the Lions wall of defense.
Will the Lions have the strength to pull off the seemingly impossible?
Does it really take four combined rugby nations to beat the All Blacks?
It has the setting of world cup finale. Folks in Great Britain will be in church from Monday to Saturday morning, praying to the Man upstairs for a series win over New Zealand.
