The teams had shared one victory each in the opening two Test before the Lions produced a stunning performance to triumph 41-16 in the deciding game of the tour.
Leading 19-3 in the first half after getting off to an electric start, the Lions were pegged back at the start of the second period as Australia cut the deficit to just three points. But the Lions were not to be denied as they maintained composure and then cut loose with some clinical finishing.
Tigers lock Geoff Parling started in the second row, with club colleagues Tom Youngs, Dan Cole and Manu Tuilagi sharing in the win as second-half replacements. Ben Youngs and Tom Croft, not selected on ths occasion, played in the previous two Tests.
The game was just over a minute old when the Lions seized the initiative with the opening try. After Australia scrum-half Will Genia knocked-on from the kick-off, the Lions gained a free-kick at the resulting scrum and, after Tommy Bowe and Alun Wyn Jones both went close to the tryline, it was prop Alex Corbisiero who squirmed over under the posts. Leigh Halfpenny added the conversion for a seven-point lead.
George Smith’s recall for a 111th Test was just four minutes old when the Australian flanker suffered a massive clash of heads with Lions hooker Richard Hibbard and left the field, assisted by the medical staff.
Halfpenny pushed the lead into double figures with his opening penalty kick of the day and the game was almost 10 minutes old before Christian Leali’Ifano got the Wallabies off the mark with a penalty after blocking at the restart.
The Lions scrum then gained ascendancy and allowed Halfpenny to keep the scoreboard ticking, adding kicks from 45 metres and 25 metres as the lead reached 16-3.
By the 23rd minute French referee Romain Poite had warned the Australian pack that he would have to take action if the penalties continued at the scrum and just three minutes later tighthead Ben Alexander was sin-binned when the front row collapsed again. Halfpenny turned the screw with the penalty to give Lions a 19-3 lead.
That lead remained intact as the Wallabies turned down kicks at goal in favour of nudging into the corner and looking to build some pressure and it as Parling who halted possibly their best break of the half when his tap tackle felled Jessie Mogg in full flight about 20 metres out.
But then with the hooter for 40 minutes already blown, the Wallabies had one last chance from a close-rage scrum and fly-half James O’Connor showed stunning footwork to beat a number of defenders in a tight space and stretch out to score. Leali’Ifano added the conversion to make it 19-10 at half-time.
Leali’Ifano was on the mark again in the opening phases of the second half as the Wallabies came out on the front foot, won two quick penalties and cut the Lions lead to just three points at 16-19.
But if the Lions were feeling nervous at this point, it did not manifest itself as they responded to pull away again.
Tom Young entered the action after 47 minutes and, at his first scrum, referee Poite penalised the Aussies and Halfpenny landed the kick.
Tighthead prop Cole joined clubmate Youngs in the front row a few minutes later, shortly before the decisive moment of the half when the TMO confirmed a try from Jonathan Sexton after good work on the left by centre Jonathan Davies and full-back Halfpenny. The conversion made it 29-16 with just over a quarter of the game remaining.
If there were still any doubts, surely they were extinguished in the 64th minute when Halfpenny fielded a clearance by Genia, beat the covering defence and put George North in to score in the left-hand corner and stretch the advantage to 34-16.
Parling had just been replaced by Richie Gray with 13 minutes remaining when the Lions grabbed another score as Jamie Roberts cut a fine line from the back of a lineout to finish and Halfpenny made it 41-16 with the conversion.
There was still a chance for Tuilagi, who had missed the middle weeks of the tour with a shoulder injury, to join the fray and win his first Test Lions cap and he was on the field when the referee’s final whistle signalled the start of the celebrations in the touring party and supporters.
