Courtney Lawes and Iain Henderson push their case to take on All Blacks

Hurricanes 31 - Lions 31: IF CJ Stander, Iain Henderson and Dan Cole had any hope of staking their claims to a place in Warren Gatland’s matchday squad for Saturday’s second Test against the All Blacks, it surely waned as the clock ticked past 75 minutes and they were still on the pitch, running themselves into the ground for the British & Irish Lions.

Lions head coach Gatland had asked them to prove their worth against the Hurricanes at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium yesterday in order to force their way into the tourists’ 23 for the make-or-break second Test with world champions New Zealand at the same venue.

Yet as they continued to toil into the final minutes and the Geographic Six, chosen to augment the touring party for a couple of awkward looking midweek tour games continued their vigil on the replacements bench, even when Super Rugby’s 2016 champions brought on fresh legs for the denouement of this thrilling encounter, both they and the half-dozen late call-ups must have felt like they had been sold a pup.