Best left frustrated by Hurricanes draw

British and Irish Lions captain Rory Best was left frustrated after his side’s 31-31 draw with the Hurricanes in Wellington on Tuesday.

The Lions raced into a 13-0 lead and looked well set thanks to a Tommy Seymour try, but the Hurricanes fought back when Callum Gibbins crossed the whitewash to narrow the gap to 13-7.

As the match progressed, the tourists continued to dominate and after being 23-7 ahead at half-time, they led 31-17 midway through the second half, but the Hurricanes launched a late fightback to secure the draw.

And although his side kept the Hurricanes at bay during the game’s latter stages, Best was disappointed that his side could not claim victory.

“Yes it’s very frustrating,” Best told Sky Sports.

“They are the Super Rugby champions and are a good side but we’ll look back at mistakes that let them into it.

“We’ll be frustrated but to build two leads the way we did at this stage of the season and the tour, with it being potentially the last game for a lot of the players, we’ve got to look at a few positives.

“So, you cannot fault the effort, maybe just a little bit, and our composure and we could have been more clinical at times.”

Lions second-row Iain Henderson was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Jordie Barrett in the 66th minute but although the decison had a huge impact in the game – the Hurricanes scored 14 points during this period – Best had no qualms with the decision.

“It was touch-and-go but when you’re being officiated by a quality referee like Romain (Poite), and he takes his time and he goes to the TMO, you’ve got to trust that these guys get it right.

“The frustrating thing is that we had the penalty advantage (when the incident happened).”