Sam Warburton believes defeating New Zealand will secure the British & Irish Lions' future for at least four more years.
The Lions are constantly fighting their corner in rugby's congested global calendar, but Warburton is confident a first win over New Zealand since 1993 staves off questions on the touring side's legitimacy.
Captain Warburton toasted the Lions' hard-fought 24-21 victory over the All Blacks in Wellington that set up a series decider in Auckland next weekend.
The Wales flanker insisted, however, that he will not be satisfied unless the Lions go on to secure just their second-ever Test series win in New Zealand.
"I didn't even celebrate after final whistle; I just thought we are evens now," said Warburton after the series was levelled at one win apiece. "I will genuinely only be happy if we get that Test series win.
"Whatever happens we will come back with some credibility, but I want to get the job done and bring the series home.
"We can't stress how important the Lions is for players. It is the absolute pinnacle of our careers. The Test matches are really important, and getting wins keeps it alive for the fans.
"It's great that we managed to put that performance into the jersey and hopefully that will keep the Lions going for at least another four years."
New Zealand failed to score a try for the first time since their 12-12 draw with Australia in August 2014, leaving Lions skipper Warburton delighted with his side's defensive resolve.
The All Blacks surrendered a 46-match winning streak on home soil in the Westpac Stadium loss, where centre Sonny Bill Williams' red card proved pivotal.
Warburton admitted that on the final whistle he had not even appreciated the scale of the Lions shutting out New Zealand on the try front.
"I hadn't realised we hadn't conceded a try; that is an incredible achievement," said Warburton.
"I'm very proud of that defensive effort. You can talk tactics as much as you like, but sometimes it's about desire to get off line and put in some hits."
Lions boss Warren Gatland came under fire in certain quarters for his team selection for Saturday's second Test in Wellington.
The head coach was rewarded, though, for keeping faith with lock Alun Wyn Jones -- and also the decision to restore tour captain Warburton to the starting line-up.
Peter O'Mahony captained the first Test loss, but dropped out of the match 23 entirely for the second All Blacks encounter. Gatland was left to point out the quirks of his decisions coming good.
Asked to rate the impact of his contentious selections, Gatland replied:
"Contentious by you guys! Isn't it kind of funny that hindsight is a great thing. I thought our second rows were good and then Maro [Itoje] has given away a couple of stupid penalties, which can be costly.
"Courtney Lawes came on and gave us good impact. I thought the 10-12 combination [Sexton and Farrell] caused them lots of problems.
"There's no doubt that without Sonny Bill there it made it easier for them to cause problems and we went out of the back a little bit and broke behind them and created some difficulties.
"I was disappointed with the accuracy of some of our kicking, particularly in the first half. That's an area we need to work on.
"It was kind of one of those games, particularly in the first half, when it's almost like you were better off playing without the ball because the team with the ball were tending to make mistakes."