Gatland: Drico can be proud of his Lions role

Lions boss Warren Gatland believes his decision to axe Brian O’Driscoll from the squad for the final Test against Australia was not only justified but it also helped copper-fasten the Irishman’s status within the game.

Tue, 09 Jul, 2013 - 01:00

Simon Lewis, Sydney

The New Zealander told O’Driscoll in a private meeting last Wednesday that he was being dropped from the squad and admitted there was little room for sentiment in his decision.

“[It was] a rugby decision. I spoke to Brian after the game and said I knew how disappointed he was but he was a part of the winning series and he’s played in eight Test matches and the two that he’s won were his first one in Brisbane and the first Test in Brisbane.

“He played in the first two Tests and was very much a part of it as were a lot of players. Their contribution is huge. Someone like Jamie Heaslip too and Alex Cuthbert, the way he played in the first Test and he was on the bench in the second Test and not involved in the third.

“Some really tough calls we had to make came from informed stuff we had seen from looking at the analysis of games. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions.”

Gatland has been made favourite to take the helm for the Lions next visit to New Zealand in 2017 and he did little to dampen that expectation yesterday.

“There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge before that,” he said.

“You get a lot of opportunities in life if you’re part of successful environments and teams and I’ve been lucky enough to have been involved in some successful teams.

“Having won a couple of Grand Slams with Wales and reaching the semi-final of the World Cup, Andy [Irvine] and the rest of the board approached me and I’m really grateful for that. If it became available again, it’s something I might potentially look at.”

Meanwhile Leigh Halfpenny completed his extraordinary tour by being voted as the Lions’ player of the series. The Welsh full back, who was also voted as the player of last spring’s Six Nations, was given the HSBC award yesterday after a near flawless display in the final Test.