“That’s it, the hooter went a while ago,” the television match official told the referee as a confused hush descended over Eden Park. The third Test between the All Blacks and British and Irish Lions had ended in a 15-15 draw with the series tied 1-1.
It was a result no one wanted.
Not the 48,000 fans clad in red and black who had shouted themselves hoarse at Eden Park, not the millions more watching around the world on television, nor the more than 50 players who battled it out over three epic test matches.
The Lions will go home happiest after coming so close to performing the Herculean task of beating the most dominant team of the modern era twice at home to match their predecessors of 1971 in winning a series in New Zealand.
All Blacks captain Kieran Read said it was “heartwrenching” and the world champions had some reason for grievance after referee Romain Poite backtracked on the award of a late penalty that surely would have given them victory.
It was only the second drawn series in more than a century of Lions tours, the 1955 tourists also shared a series with the Springboks, and All Blacks coach Steve Hansen suggested it was not an unreasonable conclusion.
Lions coach Warren Gatland said he thought drawing with the back-to-back world champions in their own backyard was an “unbelievable achievement” for his players, especially as so many people had predicted a 3-0 blackwash.
“I think both teams would have been frustrated but if you’d said six weeks ago come to New Zealand and get a draw, you’d have taken that,” he said. “The result is probably a fair reflection of where the tour is at.”
It was a third thunderous contest in three weeks. Almost every inch of progress was hard-earned, the tackles flew in and players were back and forth off the field for concussion tests with troubling regularity.
Meanwhile, Clive Woodward, the coach who helped England win the World Cup in 2003, feels the All Blacks no longer are invincible.
“The aura of an unbeatable New Zealand rugby team is no longer a psychological barrier for northern hemisphere sides following the tied series with the Lions,” he said, adding that the ‘genie is out of the bottle’ with regards to the unbeatable All Blacks.
Woodward, who was knighted for his guiding England to a thrilling victory in the 2003 World Cup, puts forward as evidence the All Blacks historic defeat by Ireland last year and then being held by the Lions when everything was in their favour. 
“The genie is out of the bottle – a new generation of British and Irish players will no longer be intimidated mentally by playing New Zealand.”
If Woodward’s assessment is correct, the All Blacks will have their work cut out at the next Rugby World Cup to be held in Japan in 2019.