1 Jul 2017

Lions roar to 24-21 victory in Wellington

10:26 pm on 1 July 2017

The British and Irish Lions have kept their 2017 series against the All Blacks alive by winning the second test in Wellington 24-21 tonight.

All Black Sonny Bill Williams is red carded

All Black Sonny Bill Williams is red carded Photo: Photosport

In a swirling match punctuated by penalties and the referee's cards, Lions second five eight Owen Farrell snatched a 76th minute penalty to square the test series against the All Blacks one-all.

The All Blacks played much of the game with just 14 men after second five Sonny Bill Williams was sent off in the 24th minute for a dangerous no-arm shoulder charge on Lions wing Anthony Watson.

Watch match highlights here:

Williams becomes just the third All Black player to be sent off in a Test match, and the first since Colin Meads in 1967.

The match was locked up at 9-all at half time after a rain-soaked first 40 minutes.

All the scoring in the first half came from the boot, with Beauden Barrett and Farrell trading penalties in the swirling northerly wind and persistent rain.

Barrett added three more unanswered penalties in the second half before the Lions struck back with an unconverted try to number eight Taulupe Faletau.

See how the match unfolded with Jamie Wall's live blog here.

A second try after a break by Lions halfback Conor Murray, converted by Owen Farrell, locked up the score again at 21- all with just a few minutes to play.

But Farrell stepped up to the posts again with little over four minutes to go to calmly slot the winning penalty.

The Lions now head to Eden Park next week, hoping to repeat their success and become the second Lions team to secure a series victory against All Blacks.