KURTLEY Beale empathises with British and Irish Lions full back Leigh Halfpenny after he missed a long-range penalty on Saturday that could have wrapped up the series.

The kicking machine’s attempt didn’t have the legs to crawl over the crossbar as Australia deservedly edged the tourists 16-15 in Mel-bourne during a fraught second Test.

For a successive week, the fate of a highly charged contest had rested on the shoulders of a lonesome goal-kicker as millions watched on.

The Lions clung on to win the first Test 23-21 in Brisbane after the unfortunate Beale slipped while attempting to break their hearts in the dying seconds with a far simpler, but by no means easy, shot.

On being asked how he felt when Halfpenny was lining up his kick, the Melbourne Rebels star replied: “I was praying a little bit. I was in that position last week.

“It’s a big kick. A massive kick. There are a lot of things going through your head. He struck the ball really well and it just fell short by a couple of metres. We were pretty lucky.”

Cardiff Blues man Half-penny also missed a long-range penalty early in the game that hit the crossbar, which meant he missed as many goals in the second Test as he had done all tour.

Asked whether he felt for his opposite number, Beale replied: “Yeah, a little bit. It’s a big ask, but he has been striking the ball all series very well. I think he had only missed two. We were very lucky in the end.”

The Wallabies’ first-choice kicker for the series Chris-tian Leali’ifano was knocked out in the opening seconds in Brisbane and fly half James O’Connor missed three out of five attempts at goal.

After coming on as a replacement and landing his first two shots, Beale missed two in the last five minutes of the game.

Leali’ifano was in immaculate form with the boot last weekend, his 100 per cent success rate saw him slot over three penalties and nail a tricky conversion – of centre Adam Ashley-Cooper’s 75th minute try – which won the match.