O’Brien sticks to guns as Gatland row rumbles on
SEAN O’BRIEN claims that he has no regrets over the criticism of aspects of the Lions Tour, saying that he had spoken to Warren Gatland on Monday afternoon.
O’Brien, a pivotal figure in the test series that was drawn with New Zealand, claimed in a recent interview that the squad overtrained in advance of the test matches and could have won the series 3-0.
Interviewed alongside Leinster and Ireland team-mate Tadhg Furlong as part of the One-Zero conference in Croke Park yesterday, O’Brien also addressed the issue that Gatland has been unable to contact him, saying that was down to him not checking his voicemails.
O’Brien called Gatland after Leinster training on Monday — after reports emerged of Gatland quitting the Lions and talking about his ‘hurt’ over the flanker’s comments — and said the conversation was very relaxed.
‘The conversation went very well. It was very relaxed,’ O’Brien explained. ‘I said what I said and explained that I had said a lot of positive things about the tour too, which weren’t portrayed. He was disappointed and said it could have been dealt with in a different way.’
‘I said to him “I will see you in a couple of months for a pint”,’ O’Brien said of how he ended the conversation with Gatland. However, O’Brien insists he has no regrets about what he said,
‘I gave an honest opinion of the tour, and I spoke to all the coaches about what I said. I said it to make it better going forward,’ he said. ‘I also said a lot of positive things but it was the negative stuff that was jumped on.
‘I enjoyed a lot of things on the tour but felt that there were things that needed to be said, to improve the thing going forward. I stand by what I said. Not everyone is going to agree but I am sticking to my guns.’
O’Brien explained that he received a lot of nasty messages on Twitter in the days following his criticism. ‘We go out every day and beat each other up and put our bodies on the line but the moment that you give out about something and say something needs to be improved, it is open season.’
As a senior player, O’Brien stood up on tour and explained his unhappiness with some aspects. ‘And it is listened to but it is a difficult one as a senior player to say that on tour but in an environment like that, it is very hard to turn things around quickly when you are playing the best team in the world.’
Furlong, on his maiden Lions tour, had a different experience to O’Brien in New Zealand and said he enjoyed working with different scrum coaches. ‘I was coming at it in a different way to Seanie,’ Furlong said.
‘I got a chance to work with new scrummaging coaches, the likes of Graham Rowntree and the ideas that he had. It was fresh eyes on my technique, especially the way that I enter the scrum. I thought it was very beneficial.’
The joint interview with O’Brien and Furlong rounded out a fascinating day at Croke Park that saw diverse figures such as Hope Solo, who spoke eloquently on her battle with USA Soccer and what women’s sport needs to do to improve their profile, Frank Bruno, who took the audience on an entertaining journey through his remarkable life, and AP McCoy talk about their careers.