Warren Gatland felt his British and Irish Lions players should be feeling proud after drawing their series with New Zealand.

The best of the home nations secured a 15-15 draw in Auckland on Saturday to take a share of the series after losing the opener at Eden Gardens before bouncing back to level matters in Wellington.

This weekend’s decider was always going to be a tough clash but the tourists held their own, with the All Blacks paying the price for making too many errors when dominating possession.

Having lost a few of the warm-up games, the Lions were not tipped to do much against the world champions, with many in the media backing a series whitewash.

And, after entering the press room wearing a red nose as a jibe at the unforgiving Kiwi press, the New Zealander gave his views on the way his stars performed.

"I don't think we played that brilliantly tonight but I think it is a fair result in the end," he said. "I'm really proud of the boys, no-one gave us a hope in hell at the start. They should be really proud of what they have achieved."