80 mins: TRY Taranaki 14-36 Lions Taranaki bid to end the game on a high and they get the consolation their efforts deserve as Brendon Watt breezes through some tired tackling to touch down. Young adds the conversion and referee Deaker blows the final whistle.

77 mins: Gareth Cooper comes on for Cusiter.

75 mins: TRY Taranaki 7-36 Lions
Hodgson caps a fine night with another glorious kick to Horgan on the wing. He passes inside to Murphy, this time it is not forward, and the Leicester full-back touches down for his second. Hodgson fails to land the difficult kick.

72 mins: TRY Taranaki 7-31 Lions
Taranaki are on the rack and after Lewis Moody and Hodgson are held up on the line, Owen fires a superb pass to Murphy who has a simple task of crossing over. Hodgson continues his fine kicking with another conversion.

67 mins: Irishman Shane Byrne replaces Andy Titterrell at hooker.

66 mins: TRY Taranaki 7-24 Lions
With Taranaki visibly tiring by the minute, there is only one team in the game. Horgan increases the lead with a well-worked try after some wonderful hands from Murphy. Hodgson kicks the conversion.

63 mins: Centre Will Greenwood charges down Young's clearance kick and is within inches of scoring but Lifeimi Mafi touches down.

62 mins: Cusiter, who has looked comfortable at number nine despite his first-half error, makes a sharp break but the Lions look sluggish at the breakdown and they lose the ball.

59 mins: PENALTY Taranaki 7-17 Lions
Good work from the forwards give momentum to the men in red. Cusiter prepares to release his backs but Taranaki infringe again and Hodgson adds another three points.

55 mins: PENALTY Taranaki 7-14 Lions
The Lions are starting to click and as they pile forward, Andrew Hore is sin-binned as Deaker loses patience with Taranaki's fouling at the breakdown. Hodgson slots over the simple penalty.

52 mins: The Lions quickly give away a penalty but Sam Young misses the kick.

51 mins: Lions prop John Hayes, who has been given a tough examination in the scrum all game, is replaced by Gethin Jenkins.

49 mins: TRY Taranaki 7-11 Lions
The Lions finally manage to clear the danger to suddenly put the home side under pressure. Cusiter and Hodgson release captain Corry for a touchdown in the corner and after consultation with the video referee, the try is given but Hodgson misses the extras.

46 mins: The Lions just cannot get out of their own 22 but another Taranaki attack breaks down after a knock on. However the problems of the first half in the Lions set piece continue as the scrum is turned over.

42 mins: The home side start the half strongly and the Lions defence is forced to work hard but they manage to hold out.

40 mins: Taranaki start the second half after being forced into another change with Mathew Harvey replacing wing Sailosi Tagicakibau.

Half-time: Taranaki 7-6 Lions

40 mins: From the resulting five-metre scrum, the Lions are pushed back again. Owen keeps his cool to release the ball but the move breaks down and the half-time whistle goes.

40 mins: Cusiter gives a lovely pass to Murphy to put the Lions on the attack. Ollie Smith continues the move and after a deft kick through by Horgan, Taranaki are forced to touch down behind their own line.

36 mins: PENALTY Taranaki 7-6 Lions The impressive Owen again shows off his skills with a lovely inside ball to Hodgson who sprints to the line. Taranaki give away the penalty and Cusiter is tackled neck high by Breman as he tries to take the quick tap. Hodgson however slots over the three points.

32 mins: TRY Taranaki 7-3 Lions
After blowing the earlier chance, Taranaki do not waste another. Again they put pressure on the Lions line and an alert Chris Masoe picks up a loose ball to score the first try of the match. Sam Young adds the extras.

29 mins: The Lions scrum is dismantled close to their line and Taranaki pile forward. The tourists turn over the ball but scrum-half Chris Cusiter fires a shocking clearing pass over the head of Hodgson and out of play to hand the initiative back to Taranaki.

26 mins: Taranaki put pressure on the Lions line after Grewcock concedes a penalty but after good work from Donncha O'Callaghan in the tackle, the attack breaks down.

22 mins: From deep in his own half, Hickie launches a superb counter attack which involves numerous pairs of hands.

20 mins: Taranaki 0-3 Lions
After a good break down the wing from Hodgson, Tito is penalised for coming in at the side and the Sale fly-half slots over for the first score of the match.

In the build up to the penalty, Murphy was taken out late by lock Scott Breman.

15 mins: Another perfectly-weighted kick from Hodgson puts full-back Scott Ireland under pressure. Lewis Moody leads the chase but he just fails to catch the ball while Ireland is taken off after the mid-air coming together.

13 mins: The first punch-up of the match and maybe unsurprisingly it involves fiery characters Paul Tito and Danny Grewcock. After consultation with the touch judge, referee Kelvin Deaker only dishes out a stern warning.

10 mins: Hodgson fires a superb kick to Shane Horgan on the wing and although he feeds Geordan Murphy for an easy try, play is pulled back for a forward pass.

8 mins: Denis Hickie launches a superb counter-attack after Taranaki's move breaks down but a fully-recovered Woods clears up and manages to dodge some covering tackles.

7 mins: For the first time in the match, Taranaki put the Lions on the defensive with some quick ball but the tourists manage to hold them out.

5 mins: Michael Owen shows his determination to claim a place in the Test team with a couple of nice early breaks.

2 mins: After an early collision, Taranaki wing Chris Woods receives treatment for a shoulder injury.

1 min: After a scrappy start with some loose kicks from both sides, Hodgson produces a superb touchline kick into touch from an awkward angle.

0810: Bang on time Lions fly-half Charlie Hodgson starts the game with a kick into the dark New Plymouth sky.

0805: With the sound of fireworks in the background, the Lions song is belted out by a lone singer but the players obviously have not got the hang of the words just yet.

0803: Lions captain Martin Corry leads the side out onto the pitch and they quickly enter the now familiar pre-game huddle.

0747: There are plenty of empty yellow seats in the stadium, fans are obviously still sampling the town's hospitality, but the ground is sure to be full come kick-off.

0733: Some of the players are on the pitch going through their pre-match routines. The weather is dry but the top surface of the Yarrow Stadium pitch is covered with dew which could make the surface greasy.

Taranaki: S Ireland; S Tagicakibau, M Stewart, M Lifeimi, C Woods; S Young, C Fevre; T Penn, A Hore G Slater; P Tito (capt), S Breman; J Willis, C Masoe, T Soqeta.
Replacements: P Mitchell, H Mitchell, J Eaton, R Bryant, M Harvey, B Watt, J King.

Lions: G Murphy; S Horgan, W Greenwood, O Smith, D Hickie; C Hodgson, C Cusiter; G Rowntree, A Titterrell, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, D Grewcock; M Corry (capt), L Moody, M Owen.
Replacements: S Byrne, G Jenkins, B Kay, M Williams, G Cooper, J Wilkinson, G Henson.