Shields proud of Hurricanes fightback against Lions

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.

Wes you can!! Wing Wes Goosen has done it again. Over for a Canes try to make it 31-24 to the @lionsofficial with 13 minutes on the clock

— Hurricanes Rugby (@Hurricanesrugby) June 27, 2017

Vaea Fifita makes things interesting and suddenly it's Canes 31 @lionsofficial 31. 10 mins #NBAAwards

— Hurricanes Rugby (@Hurricanesrugby) June 27, 2017

“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.”