Hansen not drawn on Sonny red

Steve Hansen refused to comment on the dismissal of Sonny Bill Williams as the Lions came from behind to beat New Zealand 24-21 in Wellington and level the series.

The centre was correctly red-carded early in the thrilling contest for a shoulder charge at the unprotected head of Anthony Watson and although they were numerically disadvantaged, the hosts went towards the final quarter with an 18-9 lead thanks to the boot of Beauden Barrett.

However, tries from Toby Faletau and Conor Murray saw the tourists hit back and a late penalty from Owen Farrell clinched a famous - and fully-deserved - victory.

"We didn't help ourselves by losing a player," Hansen told Sky Sports. "Whilst I am proud of our players for playing like that with 14 men, the Lions deserve the win.

"He made the call. Whether he called it right or wrong you've got to go with what the referee says."

Conor Murray meanwhile was thrilled with his second try against the world champions in the last seven months and the heart of his side.

"Brilliant, relief," he told Sky Sports. "Unbelievable to win but we made it hard for ourselves.

"Discipline is probably an issue, but we showed incredible heart, kept fighting and especially Faletau's try, it was awesome.

"We snuck a win, we'll take it.

"Anytime you score a try against NZ it's an incredible feeling. Happy to go over and help the team.

"We've a chance to win now, and it's a good week to go training. We'll have a bounce in our step."

Having been mocked-up as a clown in a local newspaper earlier this week, Gatland was pleased for his side to do his talking on the pitch.

"A pretty happy clown this week," he also told Sky. "It's great to tie the series up and we go to Auckland next week with a series to play for. Even without the red card we were the better team."

"The last 10 minutes, guys coming off their line and being aggressive impressed me. We gave away a few soft penalties but our control was pretty good.

"When we got the ball in their half we stressed them and we looked comfortably defensively.

"Normally when the All Black's have those kind of stats they win by 20 or 30 points.

"I'm proud of the performance and we can look forward to next week. We saw what happened in Chicago and then Dublin so we know what to expect.

"We need to fix the soft penalties and look at being more accurate in our kicking game."

Image: Getty/Hannah Peters

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