MACHIAVELLI GATLAND’S SWINGEING axe left Brian O’Driscoll in the stands for the series decider but there was no happier Lion when the tourists lacerated the Australians in a rampant second-half.
The centre, dropped for the first time in his Test career, is now a series winner for the first time in a 12-year Lions career. He now steps off the rollercoaster, a true legend of the Lions and a man that can tell his young daughter, Sadie, that she was there to see it happen. Pink ear-muffs and all.
Cradling his daughter, O’Driscoll told Sky’s Scott Quinnell, “Obviously, I’m absolutely delighted. It’s been a rollercoaster week, with the emotion of today and sitting through it, and not being [out] there. Essentially, it was about winning a series. I’ve been part of that, albeit not in the deciding Test. I’ll always have it on my CV and that’s what counts.
He added, “We’ve gelled well as a team. When it comes down to it, it’s results in the end. We won the series and any of the negatives that might have been felt throughout the tour will have been forgotten about. Winning does.”
Quinnell, almost more emotional than O’Driscoll, embraced the Irishman, who responded, “Feels good, feels good.” Little Sadie was handed back to wife, Amy Huberman, in the stands and O’Driscoll jogged off to pop some champagne and share it with James ’007′ Craig in a jubilant post-match dressing room.
O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell will reflect on the big parts they played in the series win upon their triumphant return to Ireland.
Jonathan Davies, the man preferred ,by Warren Gatland, to O’Driscoll in the Lions midfield, played a big part in the crucial Jonathan Sexton try and justified his selection ahead of the Irishman.
Davies said, “It’s just an amazing feeling. The amount of work that has gone in as a squad and the emotion we had at the end, it was just amazing. I loved every second.” He added:
I did feel a bit like public enemy number one this week. No, no, the pressure is on us all. I had to make sure I performed, with the rest, today. It clicked and it was a great feeling. The pack gave us a platform to play off; Jamie [Roberts] was as strong as ever, running hard.
“We played a gameplan that people were questioning during the week but it was a winning gameplan so, fair play to Gats… to be part of history is a little special.”
