MY BLAST TO ‘IMPROVE LIONS’

TOUR MANAGER SPENCER INSISTS HE HEARD NO GRIPING ABOUT GATS OR HOWLEY DESPITE HONESTY POLICY IN NEW ZEALAND

SEAN O’BRIEN last night defended his Lions outburst - insisting he went public with his criticisms to make the team stronger for the 2021 tour to South Africa.

The Leinster and Ireland star (right) claimed the tourists should have won 3-0 rather than draw the Test series with the All Blacks - and failure to do so was down to the coaches.

He said he made his feelings known to the

LIONS tour manager John Spencer says he did not receive a single complaint from players during the New Zealand tour.

Spencer’s revelation follows Ireland star Sean O’brien publicly blaming Warren Gatland and his coaches for the Lions not winning the series.

“I haven’t spoken to Sean, but that’s not a sentiment I’ve heard,” said Spencer. “And I offered all the players an opportunity to speak to me during the tour, transparently.

“It was a tour on which there was no whingeing – and no complaints were made to me. Not even privately.”

The Lions ended 46 years of hurt by drawing the series in the world champions’ backyard – even though they led for just two minutes in total across the three Tests.

Despite the magnitude of that achievement O’brien, who started all three games and scored the

Lions’ greatest-ever try, let rip.

“We should have won,” he said. “With the players we had, we should have won the series. If we had a little more structure during the weeks and more of an attack game plan driven from way earlier in the tour, we could have won 3-0.

“The coaches have a lot to answer for in terms of our attack. Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell were the ones running our attack shape.”

O’brien, 30, reserved his most personal criticism for attack coach Rob Howley, who he said “struggled to get stuff across”.

The Leinster flanker claimed the team were tired going into the first Test due to overtraining – which Gatland partially held his hand up to at the time.

He also slammed the decision not to return to the training field until four days after the second Test. England star Billy Vunipola backed O’brien and said Red Rose coach Eddie Jones (above, bottom) would have overseen a whitewash had he been in charge.

Vunipola (above, top) said: “I wasn’t there on tour, but I guess if O’brien is saying it and the authority he said it with, he’s probably right. For me to sit here and say the Lions would have probably won is wrong. But my opinion is that if Eddie Jones went as coach they would have won 3-0. He’s that good.”

It is impossible to judge as the Lions kept the media away from training for 95 per cent of the tour.

What we did see was defence coach Andy Farrell laying down a no-whinge policy ahead of the series.

“The one thing we discussed before we left is that there is no bitching or moaning about anything,” Farrell said in Dunedin.

“Preparation is never ideal, but it is what it is and there will be no whinging about it on this tour. We will not accept that.”

Which perhaps explains why Spencer heard none – and O’brien waited until now to speak out.

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