Rugby: Iain Henderson's yellow card capital punishment for Warren Gatland

Hurricanes 31 Lions 31

Warren Gatland's insistence that the All Blacks indulged in deliberate foul play in targeting Conor Murray in the first test has been followed tonight by an incident - and a yellow card for his lock Iain Henderson - which had eerie similarities to the Brian O'Driscoll controversy 12 years ago.

On that occasion, in the first test in Christchurch, Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu combined to dump the Lions' skipper on his shoulder in the opening seconds, but effectively got away with it.

This time, Henderson combined with midfielder Jonathan Joseph to tip Jordie Barrett on his shoulder in the final quarter of a thrilling match at Westpac Stadium, and the Irish lock didn't get away with it, although he nearly did.

Referee Romain Poite was about to only penalise Henderson for his transgression until convinced to have another look by his television match official. A penalty and a sinbinning was the eventual result, quickly followed by a converted try to replacement Wes Goosen which brought this match to life.

Gatland will be disappointed with Henderson's actions, and especially so after complaining about Jerome Kaino targeting the leg of Murray at Eden Park. The Lions had won a penalty advantage and looked to have the match sewn up, but Goosen's try, and Vaea Fifita's under the posts, turned the match on its head.

Until that point it was looking relatively rosy for the Lions and Gatland, who had seen enough of Henderson's fellow starting lock, Courtney Lawes, to take him off after 55 minutes with a view, probably to playing him in the second test at the same venue on Saturday.

Lawes, the big England second rower, has had his progress on this tour stymied by his concussion suffered against the Highlanders, but tonight showed far more mobility than either of his counterparts Alan Wyn Jones and George Kruis in the first test.

Lawes' substitution was a sign that he will have a part to play on Saturday, with Maro Itoje, who didn't feature tonight, also a possibility. Until his yellow card, Henderson did pretty well himself, the No4 nearly scoring a try under the posts only for the television match official unable to see a grounding.

It all went a bit pear shaped for the Lions in the final quarter after they led 24-7 at halftime. The tourists had shown discipline, both in terms of not giving away too many penalties, and also on defence. They missed only three tackles in the first half.

The Hurricanes, by contrast, gave up seven penalties to three in the first stanza, and had halfback Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi sinbinned with his side mounting a comeback at 24-17.

But Henderson's departure signalled a frantic final 15 minutes, with fullback Barrett increasingly prominent. In the end, the Hurricanes would have been probably satisfied with the draw - the Lions attacked for the final three minutes and could easily have won a penalty to seal it, but instead, the Hurricanes kept their heads. It was probably a fair result.

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