Highlanders 23-22 British & Irish Lions: Warren Gatland's side suffer defeat in fourth tour match

Click here for the full Lions tour guide including a fixture schedule

Match Stats: Highlanders 23-22 Lions

Highlanders tries: Naholo (26), Coltman (60)
Conversions: Sopoaga (27), Banks (62)
Penalties: Sopoaga (5, 50), Banks (74) 

Lions tries:  Joseph (30), Seymour (43), Warburton (53)
Conversions: Biggar (31, 54)
Penalties: Biggar (16) 

Scroll down for Lions line-up, ratings and reaction

Match report

One big scrummage toppled the British and Irish Lions for the second time in New Zealand, as the Highlanders prevailed 23-22 in Dunedin.

Jonathan Joseph, Tommy Seymour and captain Sam Warburton all ran in tries for the often-threatening Lions, but the tourists were undone late on at the coal face.

The Highlanders blasted the Lions off the ball, and Marty Banks slotted the 74th-minute penalty that wrestled the one-point lead - and eventually the result.

The Crusaders made the scrum a big talking point after the Lions defeated them 12-3 on Saturday, insisting the tourists struggled at the set-piece.

And here referee Angus Gardner certainly felt the hosts had the upper hand in the decisive skirmish.

Replacement Owen Farrell missed a routine shot at goal and Elliot Daly failed with a long-range effort, as the Highlanders joined the Blues in scalping the Lions.

Waisake Naholo and Liam Coltman claimed the tries for a Highlanders side missing nine regular starters, including All Blacks Aaron and Ben Smith.

The Lions will be left to lick the wounds of a second defeat in four matches on this tour, with Courtney Lawes a new injury doubt having suffered a nasty-looking head injury.

Both sides seized on the firm, dry track afforded by the roof in a pulsating first half.

Naholo immediately skinned Tommy Seymour, with the Scotland wing enduring a tough opening 40.

Lima Sopoaga's penalty put the hosts ahead 3-0, before Rhys Webb knocked on stretching for a try.

Dan Biggar's penalty levelled the scores, before Sopoaga dragged his second effort wide.

The Highlanders punted their next penalty to the corner, only for Warburton and Rory Best to double up for a vital turnover.

But then the home side raced in a brutal score, Malakai Fekitoa skinning Joseph before Naholo outfoxed Robbie Henshaw, bumping off Lawes en route to the line.

Northampton's England lock Lawes departed with suspected concussion, replaced by Alun Wyn Jones.

Tevita Li bamboozled Webb, only for Henshaw to conjure a fine cover tackle.

And then the Lions struck themselves. When a penalty gifted them great field position to strike from a lineout, the visitors seized the chance.

Biggar's neat delayed pass created the gap, and Joseph held his nerve to keep the ball and race over the whitewash.

Biggar's fine touchline conversion tied the scores at 10-10, and so they stayed until the break.

Seymour opened the second half with a perfectly timed high-ball take that allowed him to race home for the Lions' second try.

Kyle Sinckler's last act of an otherwise-fine night was to hand the hosts a loose penalty, rushing up for a late tackle. Sopoaga posted the penalty, with the Lions leading 15-13.

The Highlanders botched an attempted clearance to hand the Lions a five-metre attacking scrum - and the tourists struck.

Joseph and Jared Payne almost wriggled free, before Iain Henderson punched through the middle and Warburton stretched home for a good try. Biggar's conversion put the visitors 22-13 ahead.

The Highlanders came fizzing straight back after Payne dropped the restart, but Henderson blasted through a ruck to force a gritty turnover.

No sooner was the danger clear, than the Lions heaped pressure straight back on themselves.

Referee Gardner told Warburton that Jones was "miles offside" at a lineout - and the Highlanders capitalised in full.

Liam Coltman capped the driven lineout with a try, that Banks converted - to leave the Lions leading just 22-20.

Owen Farrell replaced Biggar and his first act was to drag a penalty wide, and then the Highlanders forced lock Jones into a choke tackle turnover.

That swung the momentum right back to the hosts, who then bulldozed the Lions' scrum - for Banks to slot a penalty to wrestle back the lead, 23-22.

The Lions wanted the penalty reversed amid tetchy jostling after the scrum, but TMO Marius Jonker told referee Gardner: "They were just all saying hello and goodnight to one another."

Again the Highlanders attacked, but CJ Stander pulled off a stunning turnover.

Daly tried a long-range penalty as time ticked down, but not even the Wasps flyer's howitzer boot could deliver from almost 60 metres.

Lions starting line-up and player ratings

15 JARED PAYNE: Improved throughout but still a messy showing. 5/10

14 JACK NOWELL: Nowhere near busy enough to be troubling Test selection. 5

13 JONATHAN JOSEPH: Finished his try in fine fashion but several defensive lapses too. 7

12 ROBBIE HENSHAW: Still struggling to hit top form on this tour. 6

11 TOMMY SEYMOUR: Good finish for the try but that was undone by three cheap errors elsewhere. 6

10 DAN BIGGAR: Ran the attack well enough but still trails Farrell and Sexton for the fly-half role. 6

9 RHYS WEBB: Always drives the pace but his kicking from hand was poor. 5

1 JOE MARLER: Solid shift from England's gritty front-rower. 6

2 RORY BEST: Another grafter's performance from Best, better from the Ireland skipper but Jamie George still the top hooker on tour. 6

3 KYLE SINCKLER: Fast and furious in hitting the line and carried very well, but still work to do at the scrum. 6

4 COURTNEY LAWES: Night cut short by a nasty-looking head injury. 6

5 IAIN HENDERSON: Carried well early on but faded as the night went on. 6

6 JAMES HASKELL: Unable to inspire the Lions on his return to former club the Highlanders. 5

7 SAM WARBURTON (captain): Still needs more time on the pitch to be a genuine contender to start the first Test. 6

8 CJ STANDER: Always bullish but a few more errors here than usual. 6

REPLACEMENTS:

16 KEN OWENS (for Best, blood 24-28; for Best, 48): Bested at the scrum for the key penalty. 5

17 JACK MCGRATH (for Marler, 48): Unable to hold off the Highlanders for the match-losing penalty. 5

18 DAN COLE (for Sinckler, 48): Singled out by the referee for scrummaging issues, a bad sign whether he is at fault or not. 4

19 ALUN WYN JONES (for Lawes, 25): Put himself about again, but still needs to ratchet up the leadership. 6

20 JUSTIN TIPURIC (for Warburton, 67): Scrapped for everything, but to little effect. 5

21 GREIG LAIDLAW (for Webb, 47): Struggling behind Conor Murray and Webb at nine on this tour. 5

22 OWEN FARRELL (for Biggar, 67): Unusual for Farrell to miss a straightforward shot at goal, but looked sharp with ball in hand again. 5

23 ELLIOT DALY (for Payne, 62): Put himself about but decision to shoot for goal from long range was misguided. 5

Match reaction

British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland on whether their creaking scrum had cost them the match: "It has. And I thought in the first half there were one or two scrums where we put them under pressure.

"I disagree with the first scrum penalty in the 22. But yes overall they did get on top of us and we need to make sure we go and work hard over the next couple of weeks to make sure we rectify it if there's an issue at scrum time.

"It's about staying alive for every moment. If you do switch off they take advantage. We've just been caught on one or two occasions, and I think the players will learn from those occasions."

On how they will combat the New Zealanders' bid to shift scrum perception in their favour: "I look to those two penalties against Dan Cole, and I think the first one's a penalty to us, the loosehead has gone down. The officials have seen a different picture.

"There's no doubt they've got some ascendancy in the second scrum penalty and I accept that, but I thought the first one, we'd forced an error. But look, you've just got to take those on the chin.

"And it's the same with the TMO who has made the call on whether it was obstruction or not. That's just part of it. We've gone from single-figure penalties to double-figure penalties again.

"That's eight or nine penalties in that last 10 or 12 minutes and that really hurt us. We've got to make sure we're better in those moments, because sometimes that's the difference between winning and losing games.

"We've got to make sure we adapt during the game with the way teams are scrummaging against us."

On the head injury to Courtney Lawes and leg problem sustained by Rhys Webb: "Rhys just has a haematoma, he's fine. And Courtney will go through the HIA protocols."

Sam Warburton on the Lions' indiscipline: "There was a string of four penalties in that second half when we were in decent territory, but we gave away four penalties in a row.

"That gave them way too much territory and momentum and they scored off that eventually. Our discipline on Saturday (against the Crusaders)....we kept penalties to single figures and for one reason or another that didn't happen here.

"You have to give the Highlanders credit because they forced the pressure to give away penalties, but we have to keep penalties to single fingers."

On the failure to capitalise on their try-scoring opportunities: "We gave away too much possession at the breakdown, our first and second arrivals weren't there quick enough and that's something we spoke about during the game. They were pretty hard on the ball, so give them credit there, but we turned over too much ball on attack.

"We scored more tries than we have done and when we were direct we looked pretty good. It was a proper game of chess and was tight.

"We need to come away from these with wins and I'm sure there were a few key moments in the game that if we could go back in time, we'd change them."