All Blacks romp to series win

The All Blacks have wrapped up the British & Irish Lions series with one of the most mesmerising displays of rugby of recent times, recording a 48-18 victory over a much-improved set of tourists in Wellington on Saturday. But the undisputed star of the show was Dan Carter who directed brilliantly, notching up 33 points in the process.

Endgame: Umaga slides in for New Zealand's first try

And so the dream is over for the 2005 Lions, but it had all looked so promising for their much-changed team when captain Gareth Thomas broke through for an early try which Jonny Wilkinson converted.

But the All Blacks - playing intelligent, attacking rugby - soon took the lead and never looked in danger of relinquishing it.

The hosts now lead the three-Test series 2-0, which means next week's game at Eden Park into Auckland is now something of a formality - or perhaps a victory celebration for a remarkable team that looks set to dominate the world game for the foreseeable future.

The locals played with enormous confidence, competence and flair. Their decision and execution of the pass in the tackle was really telling as they were able to attack and attack. The ball they got back from the tackle was cleaner and quicker, which put them on the front foot.

And then they had that man Carter.

The new-look Lions played much better than they had done in the rain of Christchurch, and one is left with that nagging thought, 'what if?'...

The red line-outs were much better than they were last week. Their scrums offered little advantage, except in the free-kicks which the Lions received, and in the only tighthead of the match. The penalty count was 14-12 to the Lions.

It was a match charged with all things electric and atmospheric. There was thunder and lightning. There was speed and skill and there was simmering anger from the start.

During the Haka the vast red-clad contingent of Lions' supporters roared 'LIONS, LIONS, LIONS' - and they kept on roaring as their red-clad warriors attacked the All Blacks from Wilkinson's kick-off.

They went wide to the left where Thomas chopped inside to his right and set Shane Williams dancing. Back it came to a tackle-ruck some 10 or so metres from the New Zealand posts. Then Thomas chopped back to his right close to a tackle/ruck. He weaved inside Mealamu and dived over under the posts through Mils Muliaina's tackle for a try under the posts. Wilkinson converted and the Lions led 7-0 after just two minutes.

The team had been changed after the Christchurch debacle and so had the whole playing attitude.

Dwayne Peel cut clean through near a tackle/ruck, which seemed an area the Lions knew they could target. He sped downfield and soon the Lions were winning a tackle/ruck under the All Blacks post.

Then came a significant moment which seemed to change the rhythm of the half. Paul O'Connell flew over the ruck shoulder first. The referee penalised him and gave the Irishman a stern - and justified - reprimand.

The All Blacks cleared and won the line-out, their first. It was their first chance to get their hands on the ball and that was after six minutes. The next time the Lions got the ball was when Wilkinson kicked off after a penalty goal by Carter.

Carter kicked deep to his left. Robinson gathered the awkward ball and laid it back but Peel knocked on. The All Blacks attacked until Steve Thompson was penalised for coming in the side and impeccable Carter made it 7-6.

The Lions moved the ball to the right but Thomas knocked on and in a flash Umaga had the ball and was away. He slipped a pass to Carter who forged ahead with speed and strength away from a poor attempt at a tackle by Gavin Henson. Umaga was back to finishing it off, sweeping over midway between touch and posts, an easy conversion for Carter and the All Blacks led 13-7.

Two Wilkinson penalties then sandwiched a Carter effort to leave the scores poised at 16-13 after 31 minutes.

The All Blacks then attacked down the right. Byron Kelleher surged strongly through a gap and was tackled close to the line with Rico Gear unmarked on his right.

The play went back to a five-metre scrum and the All Blacks were passing to the left with pressured handling of the highest class of skill and improvisation. A clever basketball pass by Gear gave Sitiveni Sivivatu a chance. The strong wing stepped inside, and Shane Williams and Wilkinson had no hope of tackling him as he powered over in the corner.

That made it 21-13 to the All Blacks at half-time.

The second half could have been billed as the 'Daniel Carter Show'. He kicked two penalties, scored two tries and converted three tries, ending the match with a record of 33 points, passing Don Clarke's 1959 record of 18 points by an individual All Black against the Lions.

Carter's first try was a gem. He had been tackled in a movement on the All Black right but was on his feet to take a clever pass from Rodney So'oialo. On the touch line the calm All Black fly-half grubbered past Josh Lewsey, chased and scored in the corner before converting his own try.

The Lions used penalties to get to a line-out five metres from the All Black line, but they made no headway towards mauling over for a try and went wide to their left instead where the tackling was hefty, especially by Gear and Ali Williams on the diminutive Shane Williams.

There was a second outburst of emotion soon after this with Julian White giving every impression of punching Tony Woodcock three times, an action described by the touch-judge as pushing.

After Carter had made it 34-13 with a penalty, the outstanding Jerry Collins was penalised for a late tackle and the Lions acquired another five-metre line-out.

Again they made no headway, but when the maul fell down, Peel passed to Easterby on the blindside. The flank squeezed over in the corner as Keven Mealamu and replacement Justin Marshall tried to stop him. 34-18 with four minutes to go.

Any thought of a serious Lions' fight-back were dispelled when the All Blacks attacked right and came left where Mealamu got a clever pass to Carter who cut past Thomas to score with a three-man overlap on his left. He converted. 41-18.

This was a record score for the All Blacks against the Lions, passing the 38 of 1983.

Sione Lauaki had a powerful run downfield and, after an Umaga grubber, Carter was within centimetres of scoring.

But the All Blacks weren't finished yet - Richie McCaw got the last try of the match with a close-in plunge, which Carter converted.

The match ended with the All Blacks down to 14 men. Carter had gone off holding his shoulder and the bench had by then been emptied, but there were only two minutes left.

The Lions came close at the death but they were denied the last word as replacement Shane Horgan was held up at the line, and a great Test match came to an end - an absorbing match of high intensity and skill.

Man of the Match: One can talk about Gareth Thomas, Simon Easterby and loquacious Steve Thompson. One can talk about brave, bloodied Richie McCaw, the powerful cleverness of Keven Mealamu, and the all-round play of Jerry Collins. But one would talk more loudly of the performance on attack and defence - in distribution and creation of opportunities - of Tana Umaga who left the field arms aloft. But there is no shadow of doubt that the man-of-the-Match was Daniel Carter for one of the greatest displays of fly-half rugby in the history of Test match rugby. Whatever he did was gold - kicking from the hand, kicking tactically, kicking at goal, catching and passing, getting out of impossible situations with his strength and speed. His performance was magic and all done with such calm and poise.

Moment of the Match: The tries were all worth talking about but the moment of the match may not have been a try at all. Rugby is a game of consequences and just when the Lions were roaring loudest a moment of silliness muted their growl and brought the All Blacks into the game - the flying dive of Paul O'Connell.

Villain of the match: There were some bad moments but perhaps the worst happened when Julian White stamped on Byron Kelleher's arm and then delivered two punches on Tony Woodcock.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries: Umaga, Sivivatu, Carter 2, McCaw
Cons: Carter 4
Pens: Carter 5

For the Lions:
Tries: Thomas, Easterby
Con: Wilkinson
Pens: Wilkinson 2

The teams:

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Tana Umaga (captain), 12 Aaron Mauger (Leon MacDonald, 38), 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu (Ma'a Nonu, 73), 10 Dan Carter, 9 Byron Kelleher (Justin Marshall, 66), 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerry Collins (Sione Lauaki, 66), 5 Ali Williams, 4 Chris Jack (Jono Gibbes, 74), 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Keven Mealamu  (Derren Witcombe, 70), 1 Tony Woodcock (Campbell Johnstone, 78).

British & Irish Lions: 15 Josh Lewsey, 14 Jason Robinson 13 Gareth Thomas (captain), 12 Gavin Henson (Shane Horgan, 70), 11 Shane Williams, 10 Jonny Wilkinson (Stephen Jones, 60), 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Donncha O’Callaghan (Martin Corry, 73), 4 Paul O'Connell, 3 Julian White (Graham Rowntree, 56-60), 2 Steve Thompson (Shane Byrne, 78), 1 Gethin Jenkins (Graham Rowntree, 60).
Unused replacements: 19 Martyn Williams, 20 Matt Dawson.

Referee: Andrew Cole (Australia)
Touch judges: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Television match official: Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Substitute controller: Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand)