Rugby-All Blacks come from behind to edge Lions and stay unbeaten on tour

New Zealand fought back from an 18-point deficit in the second half to edge the Lions 41-35 at Ellis Park on Tuesday and keep up their unbeaten run on their tour of South Africa. The ‌come-from-behind victory means they have beaten all four provincial opponents on their six-week, eight-match tour as well as upsetting the Springboks 33-16 at Ellis Park in the first test at the weekend.

The tourists outscored the Lions seven tries to five with Ethan Blackadder, Rieko Ioane and Emoni Narawa scoring two each, and Noah Hotham getting the other. Richie ‌Mo’unga, on his return to the New Zealand side for the first time since the 2023 World Cup final, put over two conversions and Beauden Barrett ‌one. The home side’s try scorers were Nico Steyn, Sibabalwe Mahashe, Kelly Mpeku, Erich Cronje and captain Francke Horn, with flyhalf Chris Smith converting them all.

The 35 points scored by the Lions are the most by a provincial or club side against the All Blacks, whose teamwas mostly made up of players not involved in Saturday’s test side. The Lions had more preparation time in their pre-season to face the ⁠All Blacks ​than their three provincial rivals, who lost ⁠in the opening tour matches earlier this month, and burst into a 14-0 lead after seven minutes with Steyn darting over for the first try and Mahashe then intercepting to double the score.

The All ⁠Blacks replied with a double of their own as Hotham and Narawa scored, at the end of some expansive running, but Lions’ winger Mpeku impressively dived over in the corner in ​the 33rd minute to give his side a 21-12 lead. That was reduced to 21-17 at the break when Blackadder got the first of his two ⁠tries on the night, again at the end of some impressive running rugby.

EXPECTATIONS OF SECOND-HALF ROUT DASHED The expectation was then that New Zealand would storm through in the second half but that was quickly dashed ⁠as ​Mahashe’s breakaway set up Cronje and a scrum maul saw Horn over to increase the home lead to 35-17 in the 47th minute.

Veteran Ioane then scored two tries in the space of seven minutes with his speed and guile to reduce the deficit to four points, and Blackadder’s 63rd-minute try put New Zealand ahead ⁠by a single point. The Lions had a glimmer of hope for an upset win as they looked to burst through the tourists' defence, but the All Blacks ⁠dominated the closing minutes and Narawa barged ⁠over for the last score of the game to see off any possibility of a shock defeat.

“The Lions pressured us right from the start and put us on the back foot,” said All Blacks skipper Patrick Tuipulotu. “It was a very tough ‌game, and I’m happy we ‌got there in the end. We got pushed to the limits.” (Writing by Mark Gleeson ​in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)