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Shields proud of Hurricanes fightback against Lions
By Alex Fisher
The Hurricanes' stunning late recovery to earn a 31-31 draw with the British and Irish Lions on Tuesday left captain Brad Shields full of pride.
Tries from Tommy Seymour and George North gave the Lions a 16-point lead at the break in Wellington and with 55 minutes played the Super Rugby champions were 31-17 behind.
However, Iain Henderson's yellow card opened the door for the Canes and they duly accepted the invitation with a storming finish.
Jordie Barrett - the man Henderson was punished for tackling - converted tries from Wes Goosen and Vaea Fifita to level things up with nine minutes to play, and the hosts pushed for a winner.
In the end they had to settle for a draw but Shields was delighted with the outcome after finding themselves behind for much of the tour match.
"Obviously, it is a little bit frustrating because early on we conceded a lot penalties in our half and they capitalised on that and a few pens turned into points," Shields told Sky Sports.
"It's those silly penalties that a team like this will just slot [from] anywhere in the field and put us under a bit of pressure and [they] made us chase the game a little bit.
"I'm so over the moon with the way the boys reacted and how we stayed in the fight.
"We could have easily let them in and run away with that game, but we just wanted to give a good performance and I'm happy we did that."
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Latest Comments
Wales were lucky the Boks should put 60 points past them
Go to commentsI'd rate the brothers Hendricks a point or two lower. Jaden has really not delivered on his early promise and Jordan's kicking at posts was quite erratic. Amongst other things.
I was really surprised that DuhDuh was replaced and not Jordan. DuhDuh had a great game and just underlined his class in a backline that was not firing on all cylinders.
Damian Willemse was missed. Hopefully he'll be back to full fitness and have an injury free 2025 (and '26 and '27 and so on until he decides to retire to spend time with his grandchildren).
RG was great. What an athlete.
Very happy that Hanekom made his debut at last. He gave a good account of himself and will hopefully grow into his role on the international stage.
All things considered, this was another frustrating Bok performance. Even though it was a comfortable win, it wasn't a commanding win. This Welsh team should've been put away by a far larger margin.
But I have faith in Dr Rassie. He knows more than I do. Bring on 2027 😁
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