We should have won Test series 3-0 with that squad of Lions

FRUSTRATED O’BRIEN LETS RIP AT COACHES

A SECOND Lions jersey will be framed and put on the bar room wall at Tullow RFC in the coming weeks. And the person responsible for that, Sean O’brien, isn’t ruling out the possibility of a third in four years’ time. “That would be a good way of going out, if I could get there,” smiled O’brien, happy to be back at his home club. But as his thoughts turn to events in New Zealand in the summer, the 30-year-old reverts to business mode. The Lions emerged with massive credit for drawing their series with the All Blacks but O’brien, who started and starred in all three Tests, believes the outcome should have been different. And he isn’t afraid to point the finger at the coaches. Asked if a draw was a fine achievement, the Tullow Tank replied: “No. With the players we had, we should have won the series. “If we had a bit more structure on the weeks, more of an attack game plan – driven way earlier in the tour – I think we could win 3-0. The coaches have a lot to answer for in terms of our attack, rather than Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell trying to drive it.” Bar the week of the second Test, O’brien believes Warren Gatland and his team failed to strike right notes in terms of preparation. “It didn’t really happen in the first or last week,” said the Carlow man. “We did a triple day on the Thursday before the first Test. You can’t do that. If you’re playing a game with Tullow we wouldn’t do that. We did discuss it afterwards. Friday was very light but it was too late at that stage. People were trying to recover all day Friday.” The flanker says preparation before the second Test was “perfect”, with training kept short and sharp. But he complains that following that victory the players had too many days off early the next week. “When lads started training on Wednesday, we had a tough day,” O’brien recalled. “We’d a longer day Thursday, then you’re playing catch up again, trying to get fresh for Saturday.” O’brien, who could return for Leinster next week after a shoulder injury, is critical in particular of attack coach Rob Howley. He claimed: “Rob struggled with the group in terms of trying to get stuff across whereas Johnny and Owen drove everything the second week, for instance, in our attack and had a better plan in place. I don’t know if people were not buying into what he was about or whatever else. That’s the hard thing about a Lions tour – getting everyone to listen to a coach probably set in his ways. They have to learn from it.” For O’brien it was a tour de force. He started all three Tests in the No7 jersey that most presumed would be worn by captain Sam Warburton. But Gatland and Howley could be leading the Lions charge in 2021 although O’brien has no regrets about speaking up. “It’s saying things that need to be said rather than talking waffle,” he stated. “Because I was playing well, Gats entertained me a bit more and asked for my opinion. But if you’re not playing well, he doesn’t really talk to you. I didn’t want the tour to pass without me speaking up or saying messages that I thought were relevant to getting us to perform. “Whether I’m there or not in four years is a different story. They need to make sure they have the best coaches in the best positions.”