Jigsaw pieces are falling off the board, not into place

I kind of lost my appetite for the Lions on Wednesday morning, which is strange. There’s sentiment and romance.

And there’s right and wrong. I put myself, as an aspiring coach, around Warren Gatland’s table, picking that team. Putting myself in Gatland’s shoes, repeating his words. This is a decision of the head, not the heart. I try but I fail each time to join the dots on the exclusion of Brian O’Driscoll for tomorrow’s deciding test against Australia.

There was a discussion to be had, for sure. Jamie Roberts is back in the mix. There’s an odd man out. But to actually drop O’Driscoll is unfathomable, when all the case-clinching facts tell you to keep Brian and leave out Jonathan Davies.