Lions put on a show but All Blacks maintain unbeaten record in Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour

By SABC Sport
25th August 2026

The Lions gave New Zealand an almighty scare with a dominant first-half performance before the All Blacks were able to fight their way back to a 41-35 win at Ellis Park on Tuesday night.

The All Blacks outscored the Lions seven tries to five in a thrilling end-to-end encounter that was action-packed throughout.

Despite the Lions last playing a competitive match back in May and being in the middle of their pre-season preparations for the 2026-27 United Rugby Championship, they looked well up for the clash against the All Blacks.

The Johannesburg men got off to a blistering start with Nico Steyn scoring the opening try of the game in the fifth minute after throwing a dummy close to the line to open up a small gap.

Less than two minutes later, Siba Mahashe extended their lead when he intercepted a pass from Noah Hotham before racing to score under the posts.

Hotham made up for the error in the 10th minute when he finished off a devastating break by Emoni Narawa to get the All Blacks on the board.

Narawa then got a try of his own 25 minutes later to bring the visitors to within two points of the Lions at 14-12 before Kelly Mpeku dived over for the Lions' third try of the game.

Fehi Fineanganofo had a try disallowed for a forward pass in the build-up, but New Zealand kept up the pressure, and Ethan Blackadder made a long run to score with five minutes left in the first half to bring them back to within four points.

The hosts made a strong start to the second half with Erich Cronje putting the finishing touches on a blistering Mahashe run on the left wing and Franke Horn dotted down in the 47th minute after the Lions destroyed the All Blacks scrum on the five-metre line.

However, after that, it was all New Zealand as they found their groove to score four unanswered tries to sneak a narrow win.

Rieko Ioane scored twice in the space of five minutes before Blackadder and Narawa both completed braces in the final 20 minutes to take the score to 41-35 to the visitors.

Chris Smith added 10 points with the boot for the Lions from five conversions, while Beauden Barrett kicked one conversion and Richie Mo'unga two for the All Blacks.