Warren Gatland continues war of words with Sean O'Brien over Lions
Sunday 29 October 2017 13:44, UK
Warren Gatland has taken another shot at Sean O'Brien, saying "he lost his credibility" by stating the British and Irish Lions should have won 3-0 in New Zealand.
O'Brien, who was a key player during the drawn Test series against the All Blacks, claimed last month that the Lions squad had been over-trained leading up to the first Test and was critical of Gatland and his coaching staff.
Gatland described the Ireland flanker's comments as "words without a solution" and questioned O'Brien's own preparation for matches.
Speaking to Mail on Sunday, Gatland said: "My thing to Sean is, if he can look himself in the mirror and say 'I was the most professional person on tour, on and off the field, in New Zealand', in terms of the way he prepared himself, then I think his points would be more valid.
As far as me coaching the Lions again, never say never.
"I was disappointed with his comments. I thought him coming out and saying we should have won 3-0 was pretty disrespectful to New Zealand. That's where he lost his credibility.
"He came out and he was critical but what was his solution? There was nothing. It was words without a solution. If you are going to come out and say something, give us what the answer is.
"When I spoke to Sean last week I said the ironic thing was that he came to us injured at the start of the tour and his injury record over the last number of years has been pretty abysmal in terms of getting a string of games together.
"I reminded him that in his interview he said he was in the best shape of his life during the Tests so we must have done something right, surely. And he said: 'I never thought of that'."
'Never say never'
Gatland ruled himself out of contention for coaching the Lions in South Africa in 2021 in the wake of O'Brien's comments, but his stance has since softened.
"My experience of a Lions tour is that there is no pressure on the players," he said. "You go out there and fail as a player and you have got the luxury of sauntering back to your club or your national team or whatever.
"'But if you fail as part of a coaching set-up the finger is pointed at you. That is what makes it so challenging and so tough. Yeah, it's exciting, it's a hard job to turn down and walk away from. I made those comments about not wanting to do it again because I was pretty hurt.
"There is a cynical part of me that thinks let someone else go and do it and when he fails people might say, 'oh, actually, it's a little bit harder than I thought it was'.
"As far as me coaching the Lions again, never say never. There is a lot of water under the bridge, the way I was feeling when I said what I said.
"The biggest thing for me is that other players have been positive in their comments. There are a lot of people who disagree with what Sean said."
