British and Irish Lions Tour 2013

[highorlow]

Article from 2010

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/vincent-hogan/vincent-hogan-sour-gatland-cant-get-over-irish-allergy-26639022.html

[Radda bout yeee]

No ones mentioned it but do u think there is anything personal going on?

[Syferus]

No ones mentioned it but do u think there is anything personal going on?

It's always been personal between Gatland and Ireland.

Imagine if BOD was retiring this season. Imagine our greatest ever player going out like this. Small mercies.

[rodney trotter]

No ones mentioned it but do u think there is anything personal going on?

It's always been personal between Gatland and Ireland.

Imagine if BOD was retiring this season. Imagine our greatest ever player going out like this. Small mercies.

Gatland doesn't have to keep everyone happy by selecting Drico. He has looked at him in the last 2 tests and feels he is not up to the task, he is probably wrong, But he won't give a fook if the Lions beat Australia if they lose, them he had the balls to drop a star player and make a brave call which would have back fired on him..

Its not about agenda with Irish players, sure there was 9 in the orginal squad and various other called up like Zebo , Court. That's only crap talk.

[tyssam5]

Lot of fuss over a friendly game.

[Syferus]

No ones mentioned it but do u think there is anything personal going on?

It's always been personal between Gatland and Ireland.

Imagine if BOD was retiring this season. Imagine our greatest ever player going out like this. Small mercies.

Gatland doesn't have to keep everyone happy by selecting Drico. He has looked at him in the last 2 tests and feels he is not up to the task, he is probably wrong, But he won't give a fook if the Lions beat Australia if they lose, them he had the balls to drop a star player and make a brave call which would have back fired on him..

Its not about agenda with Irish players, sure there was 9 in the orginal squad and various other called up like Zebo , Court. That's only crap talk.

If you don't think he has an affliction against all things Irish you've been hiding out under a rock for over a decade. He never forgave us for sacking him.

Today was partly him reverting to type and picking the tallest and widest feckers available to him but there's plenty of scope for his own emotions to be mixed into the pot as well.

Heaslip and Murray were both shafted too and we've forgotten that in the rush to talk about BOD.

[Mikhail Prokhorov]

Lot of fuss over a friendly game.

+1

only competitive games in rugby are at world cup.

[Applesisapples]

As a Liverpool fan once explained to me about playing Man U. He loved nothing better than Keane to play out of his skin, score a goal and Liverpool to win 2-1. So with the Lions, the Bowe, Sexton and O'Brien toplay well, the Aussies to win by 10 points...Advance Australia Fair!

[bcarrier]

In the interests of balance ...

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/rugby/odriscoll-exclusion-is-the-correct-decision-based-on-form-but-gatland-might-have-made-it-too-late.21520578

Anyone shocked by Brian O'Driscoll's omission from the British & Irish Lions team for Saturday's series decider against Australia was not paying attention to this season's Six Nations Championship.

By his own extraordinary standards, barring some flickering brilliance in the opening match against Wales, the Irishman's form was mediocre while, from the second half of that encounter onwards, Welshmen Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies played a huge part in the Welsh's successful championship defence.

If Warren Gatland, the Lions coach, has made any poor decisions, then, it could have been selecting O'Driscoll in the first place rather than when leaving him out this time around. Taking into account the performances of Manu Tuilagi, Brad Barritt and even Billy Twelvetrees ahead of England's implosion in the final match of the campaign, along with the versatility of Tommy Bowe, O'Driscoll's Ireland team-mate who started at outside centre in the only Test the Lions won in South Africa last time around, an argument could have been made that he could have been left behind altogether on form.

Even setting sentiment aside, that can never have been a consideration because a player of O'Driscoll's class over such a sustained period meant that he was more than entitled to be given the chance to prove himself in the course of the tour.

Just how much reputation played a part in his subsequent inclusion in the team for the first two Tests only Gatland knows. But even the coach may be unable to judge whether the Irishman's form in those matches reflected an on-going failure to find his best form or whether it offered any sort of evidence that his mere presence remains influential.

However on the basis of the most important matches played annually in the Northern Hemisphere, the two Welsh centres are the best combination available to the Lions management right now. Whether that is enough to get the better of the third best side in the Southern Hemisphere this Saturday remains to be seen.

As for whether criticism should be levelled at Gatland in terms of the ruthlessness he has shown, it may well be that the real issue is that he has done so too late. The difficulty of making that case is, of course, that the only thing that can happen on Saturday to support it is a Lions win and, if that happens, no-one will care about anything Gatland may or may not have got wrong.

To that end, then, O'Driscoll should probably be grateful because he now appears to be the one Lion who cannot lose this weekend.

[deiseach]

As a Liverpool fan once explained to me about playing Man U. He loved nothing better than Keane to play out of his skin, score a goal and Liverpool to win 2-1. So with the Lions, the Bowe, Sexton and O'Brien toplay well, the Aussies to win by 10 points...Advance Australia Fair!

Can't have been much of a Liverpool fan then.

[Syferus]

In the interests of balance ...

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/rugby/odriscoll-exclusion-is-the-correct-decision-based-on-form-but-gatland-might-have-made-it-too-late.21520578

Anyone shocked by Brian O'Driscoll's omission from the British & Irish Lions team for Saturday's series decider against Australia was not paying attention to this season's Six Nations Championship.

By his own extraordinary standards, barring some flickering brilliance in the opening match against Wales, the Irishman's form was mediocre while, from the second half of that encounter onwards, Welshmen Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies played a huge part in the Welsh's successful championship defence.

If Warren Gatland, the Lions coach, has made any poor decisions, then, it could have been selecting O'Driscoll in the first place rather than when leaving him out this time around. Taking into account the performances of Manu Tuilagi, Brad Barritt and even Billy Twelvetrees ahead of England's implosion in the final match of the campaign, along with the versatility of Tommy Bowe, O'Driscoll's Ireland team-mate who started at outside centre in the only Test the Lions won in South Africa last time around, an argument could have been made that he could have been left behind altogether on form.

Even setting sentiment aside, that can never have been a consideration because a player of O'Driscoll's class over such a sustained period meant that he was more than entitled to be given the chance to prove himself in the course of the tour.

Just how much reputation played a part in his subsequent inclusion in the team for the first two Tests only Gatland knows. But even the coach may be unable to judge whether the Irishman's form in those matches reflected an on-going failure to find his best form or whether it offered any sort of evidence that his mere presence remains influential.

However on the basis of the most important matches played annually in the Northern Hemisphere, the two Welsh centres are the best combination available to the Lions management right now. Whether that is enough to get the better of the third best side in the Southern Hemisphere this Saturday remains to be seen.

As for whether criticism should be levelled at Gatland in terms of the ruthlessness he has shown, it may well be that the real issue is that he has done so too late. The difficulty of making that case is, of course, that the only thing that can happen on Saturday to support it is a Lions win and, if that happens, no-one will care about anything Gatland may or may not have got wrong.

To that end, then, O'Driscoll should probably be grateful because he now appears to be the one Lion who cannot lose this weekend.

Aye, there's always one, commenter, journalist, whatever, that wants to be controversial and go agains the grain.

Third test, a 80k+ cauldron baying for Lions' blood, your two captains out injured , you have no real leaders left and you happen to have probably the greatest centre to play the game and one of the most decorated players of all-time sitting in your dressing room. You don't need to over-think this one.

BOD wasn't at his very best but he was a damn sight better than Jonathan Davies (who lest we forget missed the tackle for Australia's match winning try on Saturday).

This match was made for BOD. The Lions were favoured to lose anyways but Gatland just gambled the house on a Welsh team that has lost its last eight tests to Australia in the last 20 months. C'mon now.

[seafoid]

Gatland seems to be channeling Babs Keating at the moment.

[theskull1]

BOD is 34 ... I rarely watch rugby, but surely BOD is not the force he used to be?

[Hardy]

O'Driscoll ... now appears to be the one Lion who cannot lose this weekend.

That is a good point.

[Applesisapples]

As a Liverpool fan once explained to me about playing Man U. He loved nothing better than Keane to play out of his skin, score a goal and Liverpool to win 2-1. So with the Lions, the Bowe, Sexton and O'Brien toplay well, the Aussies to win by 10 points...Advance Australia Fair!

Can't have been much of a Liverpool fan then.

he's a Corkman!