Ultimately the spoils were shared between the British and Irish Lions and the All Blacks on Saturday after a 15-15 draw in the third test showdown.
For Ireland legend Brian O'Driscoll, the way the test series played out gives some hope to New Zealand's rivals with two years to go to the next Rugby World Cup when the All Blacks will be aiming for a three in a row in Japan.
He joined Off The Ball to analyse the action and highlighted some of the positive signs for teams facing the prospect of confronting the world's leading international side.
"Do you know what the great thing is? They looked human in this test series and I think that's great for world rugby because before November, everyone would have thought the next World Cup was a foregone conclusion, maybe with an outside chance of England rattling a few cages," he said.
"I think what this does is it gives - similarly to what Ireland created for the Lions tour - is it gives everyone a shot in the arm that 'you know what, on our day, if we can stop them from playing well and we can impose ourselves and have a great defensive game and a good goal-kicker, you're in the hunt with these guys.'"
The All Blacks had a chance to set down an early marker, including when Julian Savea saw a try opportunity slip away within five minutes of the start.
"That changes the momentum of a game. Four minutes in, it settles the nerves," said O'Driscoll of the effect of those missed opportunities early on.
"5-0 and maybe even 7-0 and it just settles everything. They can grow into the game and then you try and get the next score and these sort of games, there are momentum switches and swings. We saw it with the Sonny Bill [Williams] sending off in the second test and other big moments where you just have to get that shift on your side, be it a big collision or a referee decision and the game swings from one dominant force to the other team becoming the dominant force."
You can listen to the full chat on the BODcast below:
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