Outcry dictated ‘call-ups’ snub

WARREN GATLAND has admitted that the controversy over his call-ups to the Lions squad is the reason he has hardly played them. The head coach was criticised by a number of former Lions who said it was devaluing the shirt to bring in players for logistical reasons, rather than on merit. Gatland faced a backlash after calling up six players last week as injury cover because they were already in Australasia with their national teams. The ‘Geography Six’ played only 15 minutes between them. And Gatland revealed that because of the outcry, he was reluctant to bring them on yesterday in the later stages of the 31-31 draw against the Hurricanes — despite the need for fresh legs. Gatland said: ‘I think so much was made about devaluing the jersey, so we made a decision that we would try to get through the game with as many of the starting XV as we could. ‘We made a collective decision to use the call-ups only as injury or HIA (Head Injury Assessment) replacements.’ Gatland has been mocked in the Kiwi press and was yesterday drawn up as a clown on the front page of the New Zealand Herald. He claimed he ‘couldn’t give a toss’ about the latest jibe. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen also phoned a local radio station to claim his rival is ‘desperate’. ‘I heard that Hansen had rung up a radio station,’ said Gatland. ‘I thought that was quite unusual for an international coach. I’m not worried about what Steve Hansen says or what any newspaper draws me up as. I just hope it was a happy clown. ‘Look, as a Kiwi, you’d like to think you’d come home and things would be more positive. That hasn’t happened. ‘But you can’t let that get to you. You’ve just got to take that on the chin. It’s water off a duck’s back.’