The British and Irish Lions made a blistering start, rode an Australian fightback and ran out record 41-16 winners in the decisive third test yesterday to end a 16-year wait for a test series triumph.
After just three points separated the two sides in the first two matches, the Lions built their emphatic victory on the back of a dominant scrum to join the hallowed tourists of 1971, 1974 and 1997 as series winners in the modern era.
Prop Alex Corbisiero, flyhalf Jonny Sexton, winger George North and centre Jamie Roberts scored the tries and fullback Leigh Halfpenny, named player of the series, added 21 points with his boot to give the Lions their highest ever tally in a test match.
“It’s pretty indescribable. There was a lot said about the selection in the week and with big thanks to the fans coming out I think we’ve proved that despite selection the northern hemisphere is doing pretty well,” Lions skipper Alun Wyn Jones said.
After a tight first test in Brisbane and second in Melbourne, the decider looked like being a rout after 25 minutes with the home side reduced to 14 men, their scrum in disarray and the Lions 19-3 up.
The Wallabies looked down and out when winger Israel Folau pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury to bring Jesse Mogg on for his test debut.
Instead, the home side managed to endure the remaining period with just 14 men and started to put together some backline rhythm.
Mogg’s first burst up the middle was stopped by a brilliant tap tackle in open field from Geoff Parling but the Wallabies kept coming.
It was from a scrum just before half-time that they finally made the breakthrough, though, O’Connor jinking past Sexton and taking scrumhalf Mike Phillips over the line with him to score.
Christian Lealiifano converted to leave the Lions with just a 19-10 lead at the break and the centre cut six more points out of it with a pair of penalties in the first five minutes after the break.
A huge shove through tighthead Adam Jones saw the Lions regain their dominance at the scrum and the Wallabies crumbled before it, allowing Halfpenny to extend the lead to 21-16 after 51 minutes.
Five minutes later and the Lions attacked up the left flank with Jonathan Davies releasing Halfpenny who got the ball back inside for Sexton to run round and score under the posts.
The slight fullback added the extras for a 29-16 lead and eight minutes later set up the coup de grace, slipping past Will Genia on the counter-attack to set North on his way for his second try of the series.
Halfpenny failed with the conversion – his only miss in nine kicks on the night – but it was made academic after 68 minutes when Roberts cut through the Wallabies defence to score the fourth try.