Second-half tries from Paul Wellens and Gareth Ellis meant Brian Noble's team were left regretting a no-try ruling after Danny McGuire had crossed the whitewash.

The man who tackled McGuire, Brent Webb, scored the only try of the first half with a breakaway effort - after Sean Long had kicked the Lions into a 13th minute lead.

But British-based Motu Tony and Iosia Soliola crossed to give the hosts a lead which proved decisive, despite Britain's late rally in front of a crowd of 17,005.

The Kiwis, beaten in their first two games, needed to start well in order to have a realistic chance of retaining their 2005 crown.

The scene was set for a hostile affair before a whistle had been blown when the Lions chose to ignore the haka and take their positions on the pitch, much to the disapproval of the vocal crowd.

The atmosphere darkened even further when, two minutes into the contest, Great Britain hard-man Adrian Morley decked Kiwis skipper Ruben Wiki with a bruising high tackle.

A skirmish quickly broke out on the 30-metre line before referee Paul Simpkins restored order and placed the Warrington-bound prop on report.

Within inches of the visitors' goal-line, the Kiwis, however, failed to make the most of their opportunity as big forward Roy Asotasi spilled the ball in a tackle.

However, it was the Lions who boasted most of the early possession and the visitors drew first blood through a penalty from St Helens scrum-half Long.

Both sides looked evenly matched early in the battle and defence took centre-stage until Long slotted a simple penalty after Kiwis stand-off Jerome Ropati was penalised for flopping onto a completed tackle.

A handling error from centre Soliola shortly after gave the visitors a chance to extend their lead but some poor passing from close range saw the opportunity go begging.

Passing troubles continued to hinder the Lions' attacking plays as the Kiwis were forced to defend their line on several occasions midway through the half.

Then, with less than 13 minutes left until the break, light-footed full-back Webb put the hosts in front for the first time with his 95 metre breakaway and score under the posts.

Stacey Jones' subsequent conversion proved to be the last scoring play of the half as unyielding defence returned in the remaining minutes.

The second term started in bizarre fashion as Webb overstepped the dead-ball line scarcely a moment after catching the Lions' kick-off.

Forced to restart proceedings from their own territory, the Kiwis were instantly on the back foot as Noble;s men began to fire.

Five minutes into the half, Leeds stand-off McGuire broke through the wilting defence and looked to have crossed the chalk for a relatively easy try to restore his side's lead.

However, upon closer analysis from the video referee, it appeared that a last-gasp tackle from Webb had been enough to dislodge the ball from the Leeds star's grasp - and the try was disallowed as he had not grounded the ball.

Shortly after, Hull utility-back Tony dented the visitors' hopes when he burrowed over from five metres out to give the Kiwis a 12-2 lead.

Things then went from bad to worse for the visitors in the 67th minute when Soliola capitalised on some stagnant defence to score and put the result almost beyond doubt.

Great Britain, however, were not ready to concede defeat without a fight.

St Helens full-back Paul Wellens crossed to give them hope - then Leeds second rower Gareth Ellis did likewise to restore some respectability to the scoreline, with Long and McGuire converting.