In the first half it was South Africa who were in the ascendant, winning all of the collisions and whose gameplan was dominant; in the second it was the Lions who wrestled back the momentum and imposed the way they wanted to play.
This was test match rugby of the highest order, a tactical chess match in the best traditions of the Lions against the Springboks. In the first half it was the Boks who were utterly dominant, so much so that at the interval the Lions were lucky not to be further behind. Had wings Duhan van der Merwe and Anthony Watson not been so defensively impressive, and had not Maro Itoje not been absolutely world-class at the breakdown, South Africa could have been out of sight.