BRIAN O’DRISCOLL HAS given a frank interview to Sky Sports’ The Rugby Club about his axing from the Lions team for the Third Test against Australia this summer.
In a wide-ranging chat with former teammate Shane Horgan, Ireland’s record try-scorer reflected on his disappointment at missing out on the series-clinching Test against the Wallabies. O’Driscoll was dropped in favour of a fit again Jamie Roberts for the crucial game in Sydney.
As part of a preview for the full-length interview, which airs on at 8pm tonight, Sky Sports aired O’Driscoll’s comments about the Lions, and wales, coach.
“Do I resent him?” O’Driscoll mused. “Yeah, there’s resentment of course. Is he on the Christmas card list? Unlikely.
“When you’re left with disappointment that way, you can’t but feel a little bit of resentment you know.”
Roberts’ Welsh teammate Jonathan Davies was shifted into the outside centre role and O’Driscoll was deemed surplus to replacements bench requirements. Roberts raced in a try late in the 41-16 Lions victory but the tourist’s scrum was the Blunderbluss that hobbled the Aussies.
“People will say the decision was justified because of the results and the performance I guess,” O’Driscoll added. “The way the team played I felt within the 13 jersey that I might have been able to do a decent job within that part of the team the way they played in that game.
That’s absolutely not taking anything away from Jonathan’s performance, I thought he was pretty good that day, made some big plays at important times. But I guess it comes back to you backing yourself, feeling you too could have done some things that maybe others didn’t do on the day.”
The full interview with O’Driscoll airs on The Rugby Club from 8pm on Sky Sports this evening.
