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Brian O Driscoll, Warren Gatland, third test, Australia
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Former Ireland captain Keith
Wood believes Warren Gatland has “made a terrible mistake” by leaving Brian
O’Driscoll out of the British and Irish Lions’ deciding Test against Australia.
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And the two-times Lions
tourist also accused Gatland of failing to respect the tradition of the
combined home nations representative side.
O’Driscoll was widely seen
as the favourite to captain the side in Saturday’s third Test in Sydney, with
Paul O’Connell and Sam Warburton both injured.
But the 125-cap Ireland
international was not even included in the 23-man matchday squad as Jamie
Roberts and Jonathan Davies were paired at centre as two of the 10 Wales
players in the starting line-up, with England’s Manu Tuilagi on the bench.
Wales lock Alun-Wyn Jones
will instead lead the side and Wood feels his former international colleague’s
leadership will be missed.
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“I’ve been uncomfortable
throughout this tour whenever Warren Gatland has spoken about the captaincy,”
he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“He tries to depower it, he
consistently says it isn’t about leadership and that isn’t the most important
thing. Having been on two Lions tours myself under (former England skipper)
Martin Johnson, I would have said the leadership of the captain was the most important
thing.
“Brian O’Driscoll has been
quiet in the two Tests but at every stage, he has been the clarion call once
Paul O’Connell got injured. I just think Gatland has made a terrible mistake.”
The fit-again Roberts will
be central to a physical approach at ANZ Stadium and Wood, who won 58 Ireland
caps at hooker, is upset at the lack of a “spark” in the tourists’ game.
“It’s entirely built around
power,” he said. A huge amount rests on Jamie Roberts’ shoulders and they were
crying out for him in the last two weeks. I just think Brian’s subtlety off him
would have worked.
“You can say (Gatland is)
picking on form but he’s picked an unbelievably direct team with very little
guile in it, specifically to play this game plan.
“You’re asking them to
pulverise a team. The Lions are at the end of virtually 12 months of the
season, all these guys are pretty tired and you’re looking for the absolute
maximum for it to work for them.
“It can happen, I want it to
happen, I’m just a little bit disappointed at the manner in which I think the
tradition has been treated.
“The Lions is about getting
the best quality out of the players of these islands, not having an
intransigent game plan. We’re not seeing that spark that we’re used to seeing
from the Lions because it’s a game plan doesn’t suit an awful lot of the
players.
“It suits the Welsh players,
that’s why there’s 10 of them playing. We’re not seeing the blend of four
teams. That’s what the Lions is about, that’s what makes it so phenomenal.”
BRIAN O’DRISCOLL FACTFILE
1979: Born January 21 in
Dublin.
1996: Makes Ireland schools
debut.
1999: Wins three Ireland
Under-21 caps.
April — Called up to Ireland
squad against Italy but not used in the match.
June — Makes Test debut
against Australia during summer tour.
August — Handed provincial
debut for Leinster
November — Scores first
international try, against the United States in 1999 World Cup
2000: Runs in a hat-trick
against France in Paris.
2001: Named in British and
Irish Lions squad for Australia. Played all three Tests in 2-1 series defeat.
2002: Given Ireland
captaincy for first time.
2004: Made permanent Ireland
skipper. Leads Ireland to first Triple Crown for 19 years.
2005: Named Lions captain
for tour to New Zealand.
June 25 — Ruled out of the
rest of the Lions tour after dislocating his left shoulder in the first 90
seconds of the first Test against the All Blacks in Christchurch after a spear
tackle by Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu. The pair escaped sanction at the time
but were later strongly condemned by the International Rugby Board.
2007: March 17 — Surpasses
Keith Wood’s record of 36 Tests as Ireland captain as they beat Italy 51-24 in
the final game of the RBS 6 Nations.
April — Named RBS 6 Nations
player of the tournament for a second consecutive year, following Ireland’s
defence of the Triple Crown.
August 12 — Picked in 30-man
squad for the World Cup, in which Ireland finished third in Pool D.
August 16 — Punched in the
face during Ireland’s match with French club Bayonne and taken to hospital with
a suspected fractured cheekbone.
2008: Captains Leinster to
the Celtic League title.
2009: March 21 — Leads
Ireland to the Six Nations Grand Slam as they beat Wales 17-15. O’ Driscoll
scored four tries in five games and was named player of the tournament.
May 23 — O’Driscoll drops a
goal as Leinster win the Heineken Cup with a 19-16 win over Leicester. He had
also scored an interception try in the semi-final win over Munster.
June — Plays two Tests on
the Lions’ tour of South Africa, but misses the third with concussion.
November 16 — Shortlisted
for the IRB player of the year award, but eventually misses out to New
Zealand’s Richie McCaw.
2010: January — Voted World
Rugby player of the decade by Rugby World magazine.
2011: March 19 — Scores a
record 25th Six Nations try in a 24-8 win over England.
May 21 — Wins his second
Heineken Cup as Leinster beat Northampton 33-22.
September-October — Captains
Ireland to the World Cup quarter-finals.
2012: May 19 — Leinster
retain the Heineken Cup with a 42-14 win over Ulster.
2013: March 20 — Suspended
for three weeks, having been cited for stamping in Ireland’s final Six Nations
game against Italy.
April 30 — Selected for his
fourth Lions tour, only the third player to achieve the feat.
May 16 — Signs a new
one-year contract with Leinster and the Irish Rugby Football Union, ending
speculation he would retire after the Lions tour.
July 3 — Surprisingly left
out of the Lions’ matchday squad for the series-deciding third Test against
Australia.