Glory for British and Irish Lions as Kurtley Beale's last-gasp slip-up hands victory to Warren Gatland's men

Lions scrape victory as Beale loses his footing with final kick which would have claimed victory for the Australians

George North on his way to scoring a try against Australia (GETTY IMAGES)

Australia’s Kurtley Beale missed a last-gasp penalty that would have clinched victory as the British and Irish Lions went 1-0 up in the Test series in a breath-taking game in Brisbane.

The Australian’s came out flying in the early stages, but the loss of three key players to serious injuries in their backline meant they finished with flanker Michael Hooper at 12 and their replacement scrum-half Nick Phipps on the wing.

The pressure of the occasion really got to the Lions who should have made this a more comfortable victory but after 16 years without a Test series triumph, they will take any kind of win to send them to Melbourne with the chance of clinching the series.

However, the Wallabies – most notably Beale – who recently returned from a period in rehabilitation for drink problems – and two-try wing Israel Folau proved that the home side will be very dangerous for the rest of the series .

The Lions first half performance featured periods of pressure and a lack of cutting edge – George North apart – and the Wallaby defence was  up very quickly . The touch judges warned the referee about offside  but he didn’t ping them enough forcing Jonathan Sexton to drop back too deep.

This affected the ability of the Lions to get in the faces of the opposition and the Wallabies did remarkably well to put in this kind of pressure given they lost centre Christian Leali’ifano who was knocked out trying to stop an early Jonathan Davies run after just 45 seconds.

James O’Connor missed two early penalties for the Wallabies – both given away by Brian O’Driscoll – as the referee started to shape the game with his whistle. The Lions were on attack when they allowed a quick tap to be taken by Will Genia and his amazing run ended with Israel Folau scoring on his union test debut but O’Connor could not convert. The Lions responded with a Leigh Halfpenny penalty and then North took a high kick and accelerated past three tacklers before waving in the face of Genia as he touched down for a brilliant solo effort.

Halfpenny converted from the touchline and added another three points when the Lions thought  they deserved more. However, the TMO ruled North’s elbow was in touch  as he went for the line  and that was a big call in this tight match. The Wallabies lost full back Berrick Barnes to a head knock as he clashed with Folau and Kurtley Beale took over at No15 and saw Halfpenny miss a penalty with the last kick of an absorbing half.

Incredibly, Pat McCabe, who had come on as a replacement was the third Wallaby back to be taken off on a cart and that meant Michael Hooper, the flanker, had to play the majority of the second half at centre – a huge ask of any forward. He was immediately exposed by Alex Cuthbert who  came off his wing to blast through the mid-field and score for Halfpenny to convert. O’Connor and Beale then kicked penalties to cut the Lions lead and despite another from Halfpenny, the gap was closed down again by Beale’s penalty after his own superb break.

However, the magic touch was lost in the 74th minute when he missed a much simpler penalty to give the Wallabies the lead and then he slipped over trying a 45m kick to win the game with the final play but the ball went wide.