Rugby: Lions captain Sam Warburton happy only if series won

Lions captain Sam Warburton has called on his side to "finish the job" in Saturday's decisive third test against the All Blacks after levelling the series in Wellington.

The Lions scored 15 points in the last 20 minutes to inflict the All Blacks' first home defeat in 48 tests, with head coach Warren Gatland saying the abuse he has received from the New Zealand media galvanised the tourists.

Gatland was depicted as a clown by the Herald but he had the last laugh as the tourists eventually took advantage of the red card shown by referee Jerome Garces to Sonny Bill Williams for a shoulder charge on Anthony Watson after just 25 minutes.

It was the first time an All Black had been dismissed in a test match for 50 years, with the Lions shrugging off an ill-disciplined display of their own to make their numerical superiority count thanks to late tries from Taulupe Faletau and Conor Murray, with Owen Farrell scoring the match-winning penalty three minutes from time.

It sets the stage for a third test Gatland believes will be "pretty brutal, an almighty battle", with Warburton challenging his men to win back-to-back series, and their first in New Zealand since 1971.

"I didn't celebrate at the final whistle," he said. "I just thought, we are evens now. I will genuinely only be happy if we get that test series win.

"Whatever happens, we will come back with some credibility. This is an incredible achievement. You can talk tactics as much as you like but sometimes it's about desire to get off the line and put some hits in. It's great that we put that performance into the jersey and hopefully that will keep the Lions going for at least another four years."

The All Blacks - who have not lost consecutive tests since 1998 - were tryless for the first time in three years, and Gatland believed the attempts to "divide" his squad had succeeded only in inspiring their performance.

"Certain factions have tried to divide us but they haven't been successful in doing so," said Gatland. "It has been an incredibly united group of players.

"The last couple of weeks, in terms of criticism and personal attacks, has been a little tough to take.

"That's not so much for myself but for family members and things. But the Kiwi public have shown me a lot of support.

"I've been contacted by ex-All Blacks, other Kiwis too, saying they hoped we did well and that some of the personal stuff has been over the top. We say, keep doing it because it's not working and it has actually worked for us.

"We can take a huge amount of confidence in terms of the way in which we stepped up physically."

The All Blacks did not look to contest Williams' dismissal, although head coach Steve Hansen said that in other matches, "it could have been a yellow".

"We have got to live with it," he said. "A red card is a red card and the impact of it was pretty obvious. Sonny Bill didn't use his arms so he put himself at risk, and put Anthony Watson at risk, too. There is no point whining.

"Losing sucks but I'm extremely proud of the way the boys gutsed it out. We will have to regroup, work harder and come back better. Congratulations to the Lions. We should all be excited about what awaits in Auckland."